Ranger Training

I spent all Saturday in a training session to become a Ranger at Burning Man. Dav and I have wanted to do this for quite some time, and are finally doing it (about time as this year will be my 6th and Dav's 7th)! A big push was our friend Sean who is a Ranger. He let me know that BM badly needs Japanese-speaking Rangers as there was only 1 last year who worked all the time due to demand. With Tesla, I may not be able to do the full expected shifts, but will most likely be on-call a bunch for any situations where Japanese is needed. Beau, my co-worker, was there too.

I still have to do 2 shifts with a mentor before officially becoming a Ranger. But I liked what I saw & heard during training, and feel I will dig being a Ranger. The training went over the roles and philosophy behind Rangers, how they fit into the highly organized system that supports the BM community, and communication skills. We did role-playing and practiced non-confrontational ways to approach a situation. There was emphasis on letting the people themselves find solutions instead of the Rangers directing or telling folks what to do. I'm inspired to be part of this dedicated & giving group.

I was amazed at how detailed and well conceptualized the system is. It has to be with 40,000 folks running around. I look forward to learning more about the behind-the-scenes of BM.