>>2267538A lot of people don't realize this, but in most cases Rangers are actually just cops. You're just a cop, but your jurisdiction is a park or forest.
Except it's a cop on hard mode. I've read interviews and talked to a couple about their jobs. Basically, imagine being a cop, but without back-up or support most of the time, particularly when it comes to all the specific little weird situations and specialties that most urban cops have some kinda supporting community framework to help with.
Need to deal with a rotting body? Regular cops just call the county coroner. Rangers get to haul the rotting body out. And clean up the scene.
Someone smear shit all over a public restroom? Cops call the city maintenance team. Rangers get a mop and bucket.
Someone break their leg? Regular cops don't even show up, that's the paramedics problem. Rangers... by the way you're the paramedics too, and you get to haul all your paramedic shit into the backcountry to find the klutz.
A lot of people mistakenly think Rangers are all these Edward Abbey aspirants who get to spend all day hiking in beautiful nature. The reality is the only ones that get to do that are a select handful patrolling high-traffic trails in a few National Parks, and the waiting list to get those beats is huge. The other group that gets to patrol the backcountry is game wardens, but that's like being a cop on ultra-hard mode because your job is basically to police heavily armed, camouflaged, anti-government redneck poachers who would just as happily shoot you as an Elk, and you get to do this where you can simply "disappear" and no one will notice until you fail to check in the next day.
