The Ranger Tab
December, 1968

The Ranger Tab is a military decoration of the United States Army which signifies completion of the U.S. Army Ranger School, a grueling three month course that provides instruction in small-unit combat tactics in woodland, mountain, and swamp operations. Although this distinction is not a condition of serving in the Army, volunteering and completing this program is widely recognized as a signifying exceptional strength and endurance.

In his classic book, The Long Gray Line, that follows Clark’s West Point Class of 1966, Rick Atkinson describes Ranger training at Fort Benning in Georgia in extremely harsh detail, and a quarter of Clark’s West Point classmates who attended together in the fall of 1966 failed to earn the Ranger Tab. Clark did not take the course with his class because he went directly to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar after graduation. However, he completed this rigorous course at Fort Benning in December, 1968.

Graduates from Ranger School are presented with the Ranger Tab, to be worn on the upper left sleeve of a military uniform. The tab is permitted for wear for the remainder of a military career, even if an individual is not actively assigned to an Army Ranger unit.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_Tab
Wesley Clark Biography, Antonia Felix