JD Dolan, 2nd Lieutenant

My cousin JD just finished Army Ranger School at the top of his class! He is the Distinguished Honor Graduate of Ranger Class 06-08.   For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Ranger School, it is an extreme military training that tests its participants to the core. There are three phases of training: Fort Benning Phase, Mountain Phase, and Jungle Phase. My Uncle John, JD's dad, sent me the following quote:

"The U.S. Army Ranger School is a nine-week challenge to a man's self-confidence, physical fitness, and above all, his determination to prevail. It is a nine-week trip from hell, designed to cull out the mentally and physically weak and to make the survivors far more capable leaders. A nine-week witches brew of misery; rain, mud, slime, snakes, chiggers, heat, cold, humidity, numbing fatigue, life or death situations, very little sleep or food, 70 pound rucksacks and Ranger Instructors in omnipresent wolf packs yapping, snapping and hounding the students day and night to drive out the weak."

- Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore, USA (Ret.)

I am so proud of JD and all he has accomplished. He is brave, strong, and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. JD has grown from my little red-haired cousin, to a man with honor and integrity. His strength and abilities are to be respected and honored by our country. Congratulations JD!