Altitude

Code Name: SPC. ALTITUDE

PARATROOPER
FILE NAME: Arndt, Philip W.
SN: 664-2781-BS1O
PRIMARY MILITARY SPECIALTY: Paratrooper
SECONDARY MILITARY SPECIALTY: Infantry
BIRTHPLACE: Downers Grove, Illinois
Grade: E-5

Before a qualified paratrooper can take the grueling Airborne Ranger training course, he must attend a three-week Ranger Indoctrination Program that is guaranteed to weed out 40% of the candidates. Next, there’s a three week Pre-Ranger Program to prepare the candidates for the full eight weeks of unprecedented stress, pain, discomfort, forced marching, sleeplessness and jumping out of an aircraft with a knife between your teeth, just like actual combat but without live amino. SPC. ALTITUDE enjoyed every minute of it.

“Here’s a trooper who exemplifies the very best we can produce: highly motivated, with an unparalleled degree of technical skill and boundless energy and determination. He can run faster, jump higher and do more push-ups than any soldier who has ever survived Ranger School. He has a Master’s degree in Eastern Philosophy and is honest to a fault. His only problem is that his ego is about as big as the Grand Canyon.”