 After completing OSUT (One Station Unit Training) attended and completed Airborne School on Fort Benning prior to attending the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) in the green fence at Ranger Training Detachment.After completing RIP Sommer was sent to Fort Lewis Washington to the 1st Platoon (Madslashers), Charlie Company, 2nd battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.Sommer was at the unit for less than three weeks before he left his girlfriend and newborn son and was shipped to Baghdad, Iraq, where he remained until September 2004.