# Lightning strike injures 40 U.S. Army Ranger students, four instructors **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934 "2015-08-15T18:37:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/1 "2015-08-15T18:37:13Z")
I think they need a new training manual. :dubious: Did the guy that wrote that book know WTH he was talking about? I’m not convinced there is any safe procedure for avoiding lightning. There are things that help decrease the odds of getting hit but if lightning wants you dead, then you’re dead. You’re best bet is to get inside as quickly as possible. I’ve had some scary moments backpacking. Lightning is just bad news. Good to hear that there were no life threatening injuries. My neighbor 3 doors down got hit at a barbeque. He was screwed up really bad. Couldn’t walk for almost a year and was in a wheelchair. He’s walking now but still only able to do very light work. > **[Lightning strike injures Ranger instructors, students](https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2015/08/13/lightning-strike-injures-ranger-instructors-students/)** > > Forty Ranger students and four instructors were taken to the hospital Wednesday after they were hit by lightning. safety procedures [http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/grounders/lightningsafety.html](http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/grounders/lightningsafety.html) > [@](#): > > Forty Ranger students and four Ranger instructors were taken to the hospital Wednesday after they were hit by lightning during training. The students were learning lightning protection protocols at the time of the incident. > > All 44 of them had returned to duty by Thursday evening, officials said. > > The Army initially reported nine students and two instructors remained hospitalized Thursday afternoon for observation. Their injuries were not life-threatening. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/2 "2015-08-15T18:57:47Z")
All 44 back to work by Thursday evening? Their training doesn’t seem off the mark to me. It looks kind of effective, I should think. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/3 "2015-08-15T19:09:22Z")
They were just very lucky. It wasn’t a direct, full on hit. The NOAA safety precautions (linked earlier) are about the best lightning advice out there. Everybody needs to read and follow those directions. I keep a pamphlet they issued in my backpack. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/4 "2015-08-15T19:26:28Z")
They’re all heroes. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/5 "2015-08-15T20:12:37Z")
So, in **ace** ’s book, Rangers are supposed to jump from airplanes behind enemy lines, march with 110 pound rucksacks over hill and dale, close with the enemy, destroy him, and run inside when it starts raining. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/6 "2015-08-15T20:52:37Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > So, in **ace** ’s book, Rangers are supposed to jump from airplanes behind enemy lines, march with 110 pound rucksacks over hill and dale, close with the enemy, destroy him, and run inside when it starts raining. No I did not say that. They face lightning danger just like any other danger on the battlefield. However, I do wonder about sending 40 men out into a storm to practice their “lightning protection protocols”. They are quite fortunate no one didn’t get killed. My comment about going inside applied to people reading this article. Hopefully by linking to NOAA’s literature just maybe some lives can be saved. I’ve been caught in lightning storms several times backpacking and its fucking terrifying. By far the one of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me in the wilderness. Ranks number 2. The worst was when I nearly got caught in a flash flood. I just barely made it to high ground in time. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/7 "2015-08-15T21:06:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I think they need a new training manual. :dubious: Did the guy that wrote that book know WTH he was talking about? What are you taking about? There is nothing in the story you linked to, that suggest anybody did anything wrong. You do this often, criticize people in news stories based on little, if any facts. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/8 "2015-08-15T21:10:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > By far the one of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me in the wilderness. There are a lot of things that can kill you in the wilderness, I avoid them by staying home. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/9 "2015-08-15T21:32:27Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > There are a lot of things that can kill you in the wilderness, I avoid them by staying home. Perhaps you don’t have a room mate that stinks up the bathroom beyond all belief. I would rather risk a lightning strike. Odds are in my favor for the latter. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/10 "2015-08-15T22:02:51Z")
They were on a training exercise to learn “lightning protection protocols”. Exactly how do you think they did that? Perhaps on a beautiful sunny day with clear skies? Or perhaps the instructors waited for a stormy day? Nothing like rain and a bit of wind to test out foul weather training. The lightning strike couldn’t be predicted but this isn’t the first training accident. They’ve had a couple of incidents with hypothermia in the past few years. People were hospitalized but I don’t think any causalities. The absolute worst [cost 4 men their lives in 1995.](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/4-Soldiers-Die-Of-Exposure-During-Training-3044433.php) > [@Foggy](#): > > What are you taking about? There is nothing in the story you linked to, that suggest anybody did anything wrong. > > You do this often, criticize people in news stories based on little, if any facts. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/11 "2015-08-16T00:19:09Z")
Seems likely the military will investigate. If by some chance errors in judgement were made, then it’ll get notated in the officer’s service file. Making any future promotions extremely unlikely. Officers have to progress in rank to stay in the service. I’m not sure what the time frame is. Schwarzkopf mentioned the requirement to make rank in his biography. But, it may be that no errors were made and it’s just a random act of God. Some accidents just can’t be prevented. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/12 "2015-08-16T01:02:03Z")
Take a deep breath. You’re reading too much in to it. It’s important to note that Army Times is a civilian paper who’s target market is the Army and dependents not a military public affairs organization. Likely they were training on other stuff when the front moved in. They then moved on to hip pocket training on reacting to the threat coming in. Everything is training. 😉 It’s Ranger School so getting in to a building likely was not a realistic option. I’d expect there’s a long, detailed, and very specific Composite Risk Management matrix in place for what they were doing that included obvious environmental risks like lighning. I’ve “trained” on reacting to a tornado warning and lightning while in the field in response to an actual tornado and actual lightning. We didn’t go looking for those events or pick riskier options to get training effect. It just happened in conditions where normal civilian reactions weren’t an option. 44 Hospitalized with some overnight and some missing a duty day because of it should trigger a formal safety investigation reportable to the US Army Safety Center. It’s not like the Army is sitting around waiting for someone to assess risk and control measures for them based on vague Army Times stories. There’s actually a system. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/13 "2015-08-16T01:52:29Z")
I mentioned the investigation element in my last post. I didn’t know the formal name. Thank you for adding that to the discussion. I agree this incident isn’t a huge, huge deal. Thankfully, nobody got seriously hurt. I’ve heard training for Special Forces is as realistic as possible, and that makes their training a bit more risky. It would be a bigger deal if this had been regular troops. At most an officer might get a notation in his file and that’s only if there’s clear evidence of poor judgement. I’d be very surprised if it went beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/14 "2015-08-16T01:54:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > However, I do wonder about sending 40 men out into a storm to practice their “lightning protection protocols”. They are quite fortunate no one didn’t get killed. > [@aceplace57](#): > > They were on a training exercise to learn “lightning protection protocols”. Exactly how do you think they did that? Perhaps on a beautiful sunny day with clear skies? Or perhaps the instructors waited for a stormy day? Nothing like rain and a bit of wind to test out foul weather training You two both have such good arguments, I don’t know which one to side with. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/15 "2015-08-16T08:55:54Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > They were on a training exercise to learn “lightning protection protocols”. Exactly how do you think they did that? … … The absolute worst [cost 4 men their lives in 1995.](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/4-Soldiers-Die-Of-Exposure-During-Training-3044433.php) I think you learn “lightning protection protocols” inside, out of the rain. > [@Bismark](#): > > Only a fool learns from his _own_ mistakes ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/16 "2015-08-16T13:02:15Z")
## My brother served in the military _during peacetime_. Two men he served with were killed along the way. Shit happens in the army. Mother Nature can be a bitch. I have cut things very close while kayaking, one time seeing lightning hit an area where I’d been cowering just moments before, from the safety of my car. Thrilling!! ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/17 "2015-08-16T14:04:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … > But, it may be that no errors were made and it’s just a random act of God. Some accidents just can’t be prevented. Well whose f’ing side is he on? Why won’t he do that to Kim Jong-il Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strike-injures-40-u-s-army-ranger-students-four-instructors/727934/18 "2015-08-16T14:26:55Z")
It’s simple: you can’t blame the Army men for being outside in a thunderstorm when everyone knows that only an idiot wouldn’t be inside. The lightning safety drills should only be done outside in buildings during clear days with lightning.