Ranger Up!: True Stories of National Park Service Protection Rangers

by Richard E. Brown

Ranger UP gives the reader a behind the scene glimpse into the real life adventures of our multi-talented National Park Rangers from across the country. This collection of true short stories includes high adventure incidents from all of the major disciplines of Protection Rangers which include Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Emergency Management, while also providing the reader with advice on how to stay safe when visiting our National Parks. These stories will play on all of your emotions, they will "amaze you, entertain you, make you mad, and make you cry". Protection Rangers are known as the "Danger Rangers" of the National Park Service, the wide variety diciplines they are responsible for make the job extremely challenging, but also provide for plenty of exciting adventures. One minute you may be on a life threating law enforcement incident, the next hanging off of a cliff saving a life.

216 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoy reading about park rangers, game wardens, FBI agents, CIA agents, Cops, Corrections Officers, Firefighters, Military people, and EMS and other medical personnel. These guys and gals have the best stories encompassing trespassing, trauma, humor, fires, boating, rafting, adrenaline, bullet dodging, travel, training adventures, daring, deceit, danger, and more. I find the firsthand accounts in these types of books are genuine. I can relate to these stories because of my own background in the Navy, in combat, witnessing trauma, as a corrections officer, as a security supervisor, and even growing up on a farm.

This book didn't let me down. There's a treasure trove of narratives covering crime detection and enforcement, bridge jumping, natural disasters, drunk and disorderly, medical rescue, and even shoot outs with less than savory people. Being a law enforcement ranger would be tough. There are fewer personnel available to assist when crimes are being committed and backup takes longer to get to the scene. As a corrections officer, all I had to do is make a quick radio call and I had more help than I could ever want within seconds. This fact causes me to have a great deal of respect for rangers who may have to handle an entire angry crowd of people, or orchestrate a rescue, or organize an incident command center to deal with cleanup after a hurricane. These are all dangerous situations, and they can be daunting when one is dealing with limited resources, personnel, funding, and local support. My hat goes off to these men and woman.

I recommend this book to people who like memoirs, nature, law enforcement, EMS stories, or like nature and are curious about how to prepare for hikes, bridge jumping, backpacking, fishing trips and more. Learning more about the wilderness always helps with preparedness. Reading about what park rangers, and law enforcement rangers do will help a person know what their limitations are and should help foster respect. It is also a good way to become familiar with potential issues a person might face when in the wilds. Happy reading.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories about rangering and search and rescue missions, especially the first half of the book. Lots of typos and the author is quite repetitive. Last section of the book is basically a list of recent events the author and his team had something to do with.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first section about search & rescue was very good. The rest of the book was boring...

[Nathan Crisp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome! Rick Brown did an awesome job describing the "different hats" a ranger wears. He has inspired me to be a ranger.