Ranger Up!: True Stories of National Park Service Protection Rangers
Rick Brown served for 30 years in the National Park Service as a Protection Ranger, retiring in 2007. During his career he worked in four different National Park areas in permanent assignments, and in numerous other National Parks and National Forest on temporary emergency details. Over the course of his career he served as a field ranger, supervisory park ranger, served as the Asst. Chief Ranger at New River Gorge National River, served in several acting assignments at New River NR and Great Smoky Mountains NP as Chief Park Ranger, and ended his career as the Asst. Chief Ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He received numerous awards during his career for exceptional performance, Special Achievement Awards, Exemplary Act Awards for Search and Rescue and Law Enforcement missions. He also received the U.S Dept. of Interior Valor Award (the highest award for valor in the DOI), and was selected as the recipient of the National Harry Yount - Ranger of the Year Award for 2004 (the highest award for National Park Protection Rangers in the National Park Service). He currently is a part time instructor in the NPS approved Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Academy at Southwestern Community College in Franklin, NC, a Swiftwater and Technical Rope Rescue Instructor, and is working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Disaster Response Team as an emergency response specialist.