“History of the Swamp Rangers”

In 1997, Paul Belardino was traveling on HWY 98 when a man pulled up next to him and signaled for him to pull over. He had noticed an airborne sticker on the back of his truck. It turned out to be Ted Arthurs who also had airborne stickers on his car. After swapping stories, they had several follow up meeting at Ted’s home. They noticed there were a number of airborne families driving up and down HWY 98 that might want to get together once in awhile. The plan was to contact the airborne soldiers they knew, plan a breakfast and see what would happen. The first breakfast was on a Saturday morning at the Stainless Dinner on HWY 98 West of Silver Sands Outlet Mall.

It turned out the manager of the dinner had been in the 187^th Airborne Combat Regiment in Korea. They met there several times, but decided a place with a private dinning area for their meetings would be better. The Golden Corral in Destin guaranteed them a monthly meeting room the last Saturday of each month. The meeting has been there ever since.

Some of the original members of the breakfast gathering were Paul & Adele Belardino, Ted & Marlene Arthurs, Frank & Leone Moore, Tom & Carol Cruise, Mike Pohring, Bobby Godwin,  Barbara Nuckles, John & Kay Gross, Bruce & Nola Byrd, Vinton Milbank and Ross & Helen Franklin. Several years ago, Tom & Carol Moody and several others joined the group and Tom wanted  to become more organized and take on the responsibility of providing support to the 6th Ranger Training Battalion at Camp Rudder. A meeting was held at Tom’s home in January of 2003 and the rest of the story is history. The constitution and by laws as they are written were decided on by those present. Tom suggested the name “Swamp Rangers” and it was approver.  Tom had a friend come up with the loge that is now dedicated to our association only. Over the years, the “Swamp Rangers” have provided fun activities for their members and the 6^th RTB. To mention several; deep sea fishing trips, cook outs, monthly dinning out at different restaurants, a trip to the Gulfarium, Halloween party, helping the 6^th RTB develop a web site and working with and supporting the 6^th RTB reunions.  This is our history up to April 2007. What happens next is up to the members.

Saturday evening in Atlanta, Ga. John Gross was presented the Airborne Man of The Year Award. He was representing the World Wide Army Rangers and the Swamp Rangers of North West Florida. It was a large ceremony with over three hundred Airborne soldiers and their families in attendance. John, Kay and their daughter Hillary made the perfect military family. We are very proud to have them represent us. If you have time fire off an e-mail to John for a job well done.  jkgross@lycos.com

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