Dan's Airborne Ranger Photos
Page #4: The Bridge We Blew
This site is dedicated to all Airborne Rangers who have served in any of the U.S. Army Ranger units. But especially to those who have given that final full measure of devotion.
Brothers with a bond the average person can never understand.
These are a sampling of the photos I took while I was with B-2/75 Ranger (Weapons platoon) Apr'77 - Apr'79
(Click on an image to view it full size)
Pictures of me are hard to come by, as I was always behind the camera. But, for those of you that are curious, here is one of me firing the 45 (they just didn't make those cammies with long enough sleeves).
Once upon a time, there was a bridge over a river near Glenoma WA. It was a beautiful bridge made with four spans of reinforced concrete, strong enough to support logging trucks as they transported the logs to the mill. Then one day, they built a dam across the river and suddenly, this beautiful bridge was under the cold, dark water. It was not a happy bridge. But finally one day the men that built the dam lowered the water level of the lake to work on the dam and the top of the bridge was once again in the warm air and sunlight. The bridge was still lonely, but at least it was not cold and wet anymore. Then one day, some men in funny green suits came and walked back and forth across the bridge and climbed all over it and the bridge was happy once again.
Then the men blew it up and put the bridge out of it's misery!
We first cut the bridge at the top of each span, so that each of the companies' demo teams could be given one of the spans. We then set our charges, stepped back (about half a mile) and blew it. I'd like to point out to those of you that might have missed it in the pictures that only one of the spans (my teams) was fully destroyed on the first attempt.
This picture was taken after we cut the bridge into sections, but before be blew it for real. If you look closely, you can also see that one of the support columns was also cut as a test during this blast. 
A montage I put together for Ranger Averitt
More fun at the range!
Dan's Ranger Photos Page 2 (Rangers on and off duty)
Dan's Ranger Photos Page 3 (More Rangers on and off duty)
Dan's Ranger Photos Page 4 (The bridge we blew)
Dan's Ranger Photos Page 5 (Photos by other Rangers)
Dan's Ranger Photos Page 6 (More photos by other Rangers)
Let me know you stopped by and if you are a Ranger or former Ranger, your unit, etc. DanBest@wco.com
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