New Rangers go to Help the Displaced, As Burma Army Attacks Increase

Tyler Bradley
Jan 2, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Oct 17

Karen State, Burma On 1 January 2021, 11 new Ranger teams comprising 55 new Rangers, and 34 advanced Rangers from the Karen, Karenni and Naga areas of Burma graduated the Free Burma Ranger Servant Leadership and Relief Team Training. These new Ranger teams will go to help people displaced by new Burma Army attacks in three different areas now. Four new followers of Jesus asked to be baptized during the training which lasted three months and included training in:

Ethnic Unity
Leadership Principles
Map Reading and Drawing
Compass Reading
Land Navigation
GPS (Global Positioning System) Use
Landmine Removal
Swimming and Lifesaving
Solar Power and Battery Management
Human Rights Violations Recording and Reporting
SALUTE Reporting
General Reporting
Video and Photography
Medical Training
Five Field Training Exercises
Physical Training
Rope Bridge Building
Poncho Raft Use
Rappelling
Good Life Club Training

Early in the training, there was a tragic training accident and one of the new Rangers, Saw Gay Ku, drowned. We had a funeral for him here. He was a strong swimmer and all safeties were in place so we do not know how this happened. We stopped training, held a service to honor him and reviewed all our procedures. This is our first death in training. We are helping his parents and family and they sent us this message:

"To the Free Burma Rangers leaders and staff, it is the feeling of our family about what had happened to my younger brother Saw Gay Ku. We were really full of sorrow in the same way we knew that you all will feel like us as our family. We just would like to clarify that we believe that everything happened for a reason and it was the limitation of my brother’s life, it was his time. We are writing this letter to help you not to keep this as a burden because we understand we all have the same feelings. Our family would like to thank you all whatever you have done for him and we would like to wish you all to have good health and to be safe from all evils. Our family had decided to send him to the training to be useful for his people but we have to accept whatever had happened, even though we feel very sad in the same way as you all. Finally our family and all friends we would like you to honor him as a person who sacrificed his life for his people. Thanks, his brother, Saw Tee La."

All of us here were shaken by this death but helped by the love of his family. We promised to honor him by completing the training with determination to carry on his legacy and to do so with gratitude and joy. The photos below show this.

Saw Gay Ku on left There are three requirements for FBR team members: 1) They must be literate in at least one language, to be able to send out reports. 2) They must have the physical and moral courage to be able to do physically hard and dangerous missions, and cannot run away from the enemy if the villagers they are helping cannot run. 3) They must do this work for love; they are not paid by FBR. The teams will now be divided into three groups to go give help, hope and love to people under attack. Once finished with the mission, they will return to their home areas, ready to conduct missions there. They will have learned and practiced many new skills to be able to help their people in any kind of crisis, as well as having gained new relationships of love across ethnic lines. Both these skills and relationships will be of vital importance as the Rangers serve those in need. Photos of training below: