About Us
We’ve all been down.
We’ve all been pushed to the brink.
Sometimes it’s physical exhaustion. Sometimes it’s emotional pain. Sometimes it’s life's burdens: finances, relationships, kids, health, bad bosses, or breakups. Sometimes it's a great personal loss. And sometimes it’s a fight for our very lives.
But those hard moments are gifts in their own right. Because those are the moments that define us. Those are the moments where we find out who we really are.
Those are the moments that we Ranger Up.
Because anyone can celebrate success. Anyone can revel in the highs, rejoice in the big moments, be surrounded by “friends” when things are going well and they are knocking down win after win.
But it takes something altogether different when the chips are down. The moments when you don’t know how you’ll make it through. When you don’t know how the bills will be paid, how you’ll recover from the injury, how you’ll deal with loss, or even whether you’re going to live through what happens next.
That takes a special kind of grit that is the cornerstone of free men and women.
We take our hits. And make no mistake about it, they hurt. But then we settle ourselves. We take a big deep breath. We steel our resolve and focus our vision.
And we charge that hill. For better or for worse.
We know we won’t always win. But every single time we fall, if the blood is still coursing through our veins, we get up again. Because quitting isn’t an option. Hope isn’t a plan. No one’s coming to save us. And people are counting on us.
We make our own luck. For our families, for our communities, for our nation, for ourselves.
We are Ranger Up.
Founded by veterans with an ethos forged by service.
Built for those who served and those waking up every day fighting like hell to make the world a better place.
ABOUT RANGER UP
Ranger Up launched on 16 June 2006. We make shirts for the military and the patriotic Americans who love the men and women of the Armed Forces. The guys that own this company either were or are still in the military.
The Guys of Ranger Up
ABOUT NICK
Nick spent the best and hardest six years of his life as an infantry officer. While there are many poignant moments to look back on during his time in uniform, perhaps the most important in his military career was teaching, choreographing, and performing an inspired version of the opening cheer to the movie "Bring It On" with the mortar platoon for his Battalion Commander. That day, as he and the men of the mortars let the world know that they were "sexy, cute, and popular to boot" he saw a look of loathing in the Old Man's face that he had never seen before or since. It was glorious.
Upon leaving the military, Nick decided to become a grown up. He applied to and got into a serious school, studied serious things, got a serious job, bought a serious house, and made serious plans. All of that stuff was seriously painful. To stay connected to the community he cared about and to keep himself from being so damn serious, in 2006 he started a little hobby he called "Ranger Up." He seriously loved the hobby and when he found out he was going to get promoted again to an even more serious job, he quit, which everyone told him was seriously stupid. They were probably right because he went into serious debt to keep Ranger Up running, and seriously almost went bankrupt, but things started working out... seriously well.
Nick loves his job because he loves the community that he and the rest of the RU team gets to serve every single day. He also loves bourbon, caffeine, 80s flicks, combat sports, and any combination of those four things.
ABOUT TIM
Tim Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army on January 4, 2004 and attended Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training, Basic Airborne Course and the Special Forces Qualification Course. Tim was featured in Dick Couch's book about Green Beret selection called "Chosen Soldier" under the moniker "Tom Kendall". In 2007, he completed Ranger School and was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group, where he served on Operational Detachment Alphas. During this time he was also a sniper, sniper instructor, the principal combatives instructor for C Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. Kennedy deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom multiple times. He now serves in 19th Group out of Austin, Texas.
As a hobby, he was also a professional fighter in the UFC, WEC, IFL, Strikeforce, and various Indian Reservations and bars throughout the land. He was pretty good at it, holding wins over Michael Bisping, Robbie Lawler, Rafael Natal, and Roger Gracie.
He lives every day of his life by the moniker, "Be Hard to Kill," and founded Sheepdog Response to help teach others about his way of living life in a state of preparedness.
He also enjoys cooking and annoying Nick whenever possible.