After enlisting on November 19, 1942, Ralph would be sent to Camp Shelby to train for what he thought would be a tropical battlefield. After arriving at Fort Ord, California along with 199 other men, they were asked whoever would be willing to volunteer for a special operation to step forward, at which point no one moved and they were told congratulations and welcome to the Seventh Scouts. They were trained for three months in hand-to-hand combat and Commando tactics and loaded onto two submarines where they would experience sea sickness up until they arrived in the Aleutians. Along the way to their destination, they practiced traversing from the submarines to land in rubber boats of about 10 men per boat and were undetected each time.