While serving as a company XO with the 1st Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in 2016, Ryan Crayne and his company were training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California when they received emergency overseas deployment orders. In a matter of days, and after a herculean logistical effort, Ryan and his fellow Rangers were in Afghanistan and engaged in a major clearing operation against the ISIS terrorist organization. In this operation, Ryan served as a “fighting XO,” leading troops in combat as part of a broader joint and combined mission.
In this episode, Ryan explains how high performing units leverage leadership principles such as mutual trust, disciplined initiative, and prudent risk to enable extraordinary accomplishments in training and on the battlefield. He also describes the grueling process of becoming a member of the Ranger Regiment and his experiences as a faculty member at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
You can listen to the full conversation below, and if you aren’t already subscribed to The Spear, please be sure to do so on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app. While you’re there, we would love it if you would take just a second to give the podcast a rating or leave a review.
Image credit: Sgt. Jaerett Engeseth, US Army