ARMY RANGER TRAINING.

SEC. 562. ARMY RANGER TRAINING. (a) In General.— (1) Chapter 401 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 4302 the following new section: “§ 4303. Army Ranger training: instructor staffing; safety.”. “(a) Levels of Personnel Assigned.— (1) The Secretary of the Army shall ensure that at all times the number of officers, and the number of enlisted members, permanently assigned to the Ranger Training Brigade (or other organizational element of the Army primarily responsible for Ranger student training) are not less than 90 percent of the required manning spaces for officers, and for enlisted members, respectively, for that brigade. “(2) In this subsection, the term ‘required manning spaces’ means the number of personnel spaces for officers, and the number of personnel spaces for enlisted members, that are designated in Army authorization documents as the number required to accomplish the missions of a particular unit or organization. “(b) Training Safety Cells.— (1) The Secretary of the Army shall establish and maintain an organizational entity known as a ‘safety cell’ as part of the organizational elements of the Army responsible for conducting each of the three major phases of the Ranger Course. The safety cell in each different geographic area of Ranger Course training shall be comprised of personnel who have sufficient continuity and experience in that geographic area of such training to be knowledgeable of the local conditions year-round, including conditions of terrain, weather, water, and climate and other conditions and the potential effect on those conditions on Ranger student training and safety. “(2) Members of each safety cell shall be assigned in sufficient numbers to serve as advisers to the officers in charge of the major 110 STAT. 324phase of Ranger training and shall assist those officers in making informed daily ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ decisions regarding training in light of all relevant conditions, including conditions of terrain, weather, water, and climate and other conditions.”. (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 4302 the following new item: “4303. Army Ranger training: instructor staffing; safety.”. (b) Accomplishment of Required Manning Levels.— (1) If, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, the number of officers, and the number of enlisted members, permanently assigned to the Army Ranger Training Brigade are not each at (or above) the requirement specified in subsection (a) of section 4303 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), the Secretary of the Army shall— (A) take such steps as necessary to accomplish that requirement within 12 months after such date of enactment; and (B) submit to Congress, not later than 90 days after such date of enactment, a plan to achieve and maintain that requirement. (2) The requirement specified in subsection (a) of section 4303 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall expire two years after the date (on or after the date of the enactment of this Act) on which the required manning levels referred to in paragraph (1) are first attained. (c) GAO Assessment.— (1) Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report providing a preliminary assessment of the implementation and effectiveness of all corrective actions taken by the Army as a result of the February 1995 accident at the Florida Ranger Training Camp, including an evaluation of the implementation of the required manning levels established by subsection (a) of section 4303 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). (2) At the end of the two-year period specified in subsection (b)(2), the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report providing a final assessment of the matters covered in the preliminary report under paragraph (1). The report shall include the Comptroller General’s recommendation as to the need to continue required statutory manning levels as specified in subsection (a) of section 4303 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). (d) Sense of Congress.— In light of requirement that particularly dangerous training activities (such as Ranger training, Search, Evasion, Rescue, and Escape (SERE) training, SEAL training, and Airborne training) must be adequately manned and resourced to ensure safety and effective oversight, it is the sense of Congress— (1) that the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the Secretaries of the military departments, should review and, if necessary, enhance oversight of all such training activities; and (2) that organizations similar to the safety cells required to be established for Army Ranger training in section 4303 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), should (when appropriate) be used for all such training activities.