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"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
In 1995, the Military Intelligence Corps Association (MICA) and the Ml Corps designated Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton as the "Ml Hero." Subsequently MICA created the Knowlton Award to be presented to individuals who have demonstrated excellence or superior support to Military Intelligence. Thomas Knowlton's story is a tragic one, and the organization known as Knowlton's Rangers was short-lived; but that story has been told in many sources-the purpose of this article is not to replicate that story. However, the unusual mission of Knowlton's Rangers in providing combat intelligence links them to a long legacy of serving "Always Out Front," going back to before America had an Army. Their spirit of courage and self-sacrifice is a heritage that continues today.
In his book on the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs) of Vietnam, Michael Lee Lanning relates the history of the Ranger concept from its origins. He notes that by the time European settlers moved across the ocean to colonize the New World, combat had become standardized: long lines of troops facing each other across an open field. America, however, presented a problem. The terrain was a wilderness, with thick, virgin forest and unknown, unmapped territory. There were no roads for large troop movement, and the enemy was often unseen, striking from ambush against any intruder-man, woman, or child. If Europeans were going to survive in this foreign land, they were going to have to learn to live and fight more like the Native Americans.
Some of these colonists excelled in frontier skills-scouting, tracking, hunting, observing. They patrolled large areas, a practice known as "ranging" to scout for danger. These early frontiersmen became known as "Rangers," and their unique skills, willingness to put themselves in harm's way to protect others, and supreme courage in the face of...