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NMI resident to undergo Army Ranger training
In what he believes would make him the first CNMI resident to do so, Donivan Mendiola, an infantryman with the U.S. Army, will take on the intense and challenging Army Ranger training.
Mendiola, who recently completed the U.S. Infantry One Station Unit Training, will further challenge himself and will attend numerous military schools on top of taking on the grueling Army ranger training.
OSUT, sometimes referred to as One Site Unit Training, is a term used by the U.S. Army to refer to a training program in which recruits remain with the same unit for both Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training.
Mendiola believes he could be the first resident of the CNMI in the U.S. to take up the Army Ranger training.
“I don’t know any Ranger on Saipan. It’s a very intense and grueling type of training. You train in the toughest environments and only the strong survive,” he said.
Mendiola aims to become a Ranger medic in the U.S. Army.
“Once you’re a Ranger you are trained to…perform at the highest level of perfection and it takes a couple of months of training and then a few more to become a medic,” he said.
Mendiola said that there is a selection process to participate in the U.S. Army Ranger training.
According to Mendiola, before he was even given the opportunity to consider undergoing Ranger training, he had to prove his skill during the U.S. Infantry OSUT training where he was also recognized for his marksmanship and leadership.
‘My Infantry OSUT training was 14 weeks long. My training [included] different obstacle courses. …All of these things tested us on our strength and our fear of heights,” he said.
