Ranger Up!
True Stories of National Park Service Protection Rangers
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Manhunt – The Pursuit and Capture of Eric Robert Rudolph
One of the most famous manhunts that occurred in the
Once authorities realized that Rudolph was probably hiding out in the mountains in western North Carolina a task force of several Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies was formed solely to locate and capture him. This taskforce was lead by the FBI’s Southeast Bomb Taskforce. What is not commonly known is the extent of involvement that the National Park Service, and specifically Law Enforcement Rangers from the Great Smoky Mountains NP, played in the Eric Robert Rudolph case. The fact is, the Rudolph case is the largest manhunt to date on the continent of
Tragedy at Hemmed-In-Hollow
We stopped at Hemmed-in-Hollow, about 4.5 miles downriver from the launch area, to eat lunch before continuing downriver. The river takes a sharp right hand bend at this point and is normally a tricky area for most novice canoeist, even at lower water levels; with the river continuing to rise, the run was becoming very challenging for even advanced canoeist. Because of the potential for problems at this particular location it had become an area were we routinely set up to assist and sometimes rescue canoeist in trouble. On this particular day it was utter mayhem, needless to say we never got a chance to eat lunch. No sooner did we sit down on the river bank than we were pulling boaters out of the water. After about 15 minutes on the site we had already had another 10 rescues... We were about ready to leave and continue downriver when IT happened. Two guys in a canoe came downriver around the bend, “gunwale grabbing”, totally out of control, and a look of utter fear on their faces. They lost it right in the bend just upriver from where we were sitting, their canoe tipped over with one person flushing out and frantically swimming toward the river left shore where we were. I jumped up, ran into the water and grabbed him just before he was swept downriver into a strainer of willows, and pulled him to shore. Behind me the boat continued downriver with the other canoeist holding tight to the boat, unfortunately he was on the downstream side of the boat, not a good place you want to be. Within an instance the boat was swept into the willows, pinning the canoeist between the canoe and the trees. The inside of the canoe was facing upstream and it immediately filled with water, trapping his legs between the boat and the trees. A 16 foot canoe holds about 500 gallons of water, at 8.3 pounds per gallon, he had over 4,100 pounds of weight from the water in the canoe alone, add in the pressure from the force of the current and now the total weight or pressure on the canoeist legs is probably well over 3 tons; needless to say he was in agony and screaming at the top of his lungs. The harder he tried to pull his legs out the more the canoe rolled, pulling him down into the river,,,
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
'Ranger UP' gives the reader a behind the scene glimpse into the real life adventures of our multi-talented National Park Rangers that work in our parks across the U.S. 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.About the Author
Rick Brown served for 30 years in the National Park Service as a Protection Ranger, retiring in 2007. During his career he worked in four different National Park areas in permanent assignments, and in numerous other National Parks and National Forest on temporary emergency details. Over the course of his career he served as a field ranger, supervisory park ranger, served as the Asst. Chief Ranger at New River Gorge National River, served in several acting assignments at New River NR and Great Smoky Mountains NP as Chief Park Ranger, and ended his career as the Asst. Chief Ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He received numerous awards during his career for exceptional performance, Special Achievement Awards, Exemplary Act Awards for Search and Rescue and Law Enforcement missions. He also received the U.S Dept. of Interior Valor Award (the highest award for valor in the DOI), and was selected as the recipient of the National Harry Yount - Ranger of the Year Award for 2004 (the highest award for National Park Protection Rangers in the National Park Service).
He currently is a part time instructor in the NPS approved Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Academy at Southwestern Community College in Franklin, NC, a Swiftwater and Technical Rope Rescue Instructor, and is working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Disaster Response Team as an emergency response specialist.