Father, son team up for Ranger competition - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Father, son team up for Ranger competition

As competitors ramp up for this weekend’s Best Ranger Competition, one two-man team has already made history.

Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Greenway and his son, Staff Sgt. Brandon Greenway, are the first father-son team known to sign up for the brutally demanding competition. They are each first-time competitors.

Father and son began training in December for the events that begin 6 a.m. Friday at Fort Benning, Ga.

“We’ve been doing lots of road marching and stuff like running, the obstacle course, hands-on events, weapons, land navigation,” the younger Greenway said.

“He’s been giving me tips on running, he’s a big runner, and I’ve been helping him with some of the weapons stuff because he hasn’t done much of that since he’s been sergeant major,” Brandon Greenway said.

The event, he said, is something his father has wanted to do together for some time, “but the timing was always off because I kept deploying,” Brandon Greenway said. “I feel it’s exciting. It’s like a landmark.”

It’s more than a landmark for his father, who at 47 will become the oldest competitor in the 24-year history of the competition.

“I feel as good or even stronger than when I came into the Army. I don’t heal as fast but, other than that, I’m ready,” said Doug Greenway.

The elder Greenway is command sergeant major for the Infantry Schools and is retiring May 4 after 28 years on active duty, 20 of which were spent in 75th Ranger Regiment.

Brandon Greenway joined the Army 4 1/2 years ago and has deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Doug Greenway recalled how he watched his son leave high school, where he was in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, join the Army, go to Airborne School and then succeed in the Regimental Indoctrination Program and Ranger School.

“I got to pin the Ranger scroll on his left arm, I pinned on his Ranger tab after Ranger School and I got to see him come back three times from doing his duty to his country,” Doug Greenway said. “This [competition] is the pinnacle of what I could ever do with him.”

The 60-hour, no-sleep endurance competition is so tough that typically after the first night, during which there is a road march of 24 miles or more, less than half the two-man teams remain standing.

The road march, in Brandon Greenway’s estimation, is a potential weak point for the father-son team.

“It’s just a hard event to do. I think the rest of the events we can pull each other through,” he said. “We’ve always done things together.”

The older Greenway is confident he and his son will pull through to the end, he said, predicting “maybe I’ll have to carry his ruck at some point.”

“We’re not in this to win. We’re just out to have a good time, shoot some bullets, jump out of an airplane and cross the finish line with our rifles held high,” Doug Greenway said with a hearty laugh.