Canada has its own Rangers, but they aren’t American-style light infantry:
The Rangers are a mainly Native American reserve force the Canadian military refers to as its eyes and ears in the North. Since winning office in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has talked of boosting the country’s military presence in the sparsely populated Arctic. But Canada continues to mainly rely on a 5,000-strong force of reserves decked out in red hoodies and baseball caps to patrol an area larger than Western Europe.
For Rangers such as Master Cpl. Stephen Anautalik, membership is often less about defending Canada than it is about finding ways to preserve native traditions in a changing Arctic.
“The traditional hunting skills and survival skills, they’ve been lost,” he said.
If the US had followed the British model, it would’ve had all kinds of Indian units. It’s not hard to imagine an Apache commando unit deployed to North Africa in 1942.
The U.S. Border Patrol does have American Indian tracking units patrolling the border with Mexico. Armed with M-16 and do a superb job. Attempting to “cut sign”, on the outlook for illegals and track same.
Those Canadian Ranges patrol and carry the British SMLE bolt action rifle first designed over 100 years ago and that most perfect rifle for the Arctic conditions. Predator control during military operations and must in that part of the world. Kill the polar bear before it kills you.
“It’s not hard to imagine an Apache commando unit deployed to North Africa in 1942.”
Too bad we didn’t. My dad served with some Indians in WWII. He said that, generally speaking, they were outstanding soldiers.
The French colonial troops called the goum were a lot like the Apache. Moved silently in the mountains during darkness, experts at camouflage and concealment, and took ears of those enemy killed with the blade. Berbers from the High Atlas, also known for the “Rampage on Cassino”. Go look it up.