[Icelander]

Ghost Brigades. It is an incredibly specific reference, but if someone about a decade ago was a science-fiction fan, well, then the former SOF personnel and mercenaries of the hunter teams are fighting an Old Man's War, doing the bidding of an eccentric billionaire, based on his outlandish theories of Vile Vortices that release mystic energies building to an occult apocalypse. And the nickname for the Colonial Special Forces there is the 'Ghost Brigades' and that is also the name of Scalzi's second novel in the series, published in 2006. I dunno, maybe too specific, but if a couple of influential guys among the ca 30-50 people that constitute the hunters, full time and part time, were big Scalzi fans, it's theoretically possible. Not that I'm saying that any already established NPCs were, but I'm just throwing out ideas.

A Few Good Men. For obvious reasons and with varying degrees of self-deprecation or deadly sincerity. It's very possible for Monster Hunters, who by the law are vigilantes, filibusters, mercenaries, traitors and murderers, and who by their very nature can receive no thanks or respect from the society they guard, to believe exactly what Col. Jessup does:

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.

You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that wall.

We use words like "honor," "code," "loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.

I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think you're entitled to!

Rough Men. For substantially the same reason. Attributed to George Orwell, Heinlein, Kipling or Churchill, though none of them ever said those exact words, the sentiment still stands:

We sleep safely in our beds at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.

Rangers. Aside from the RPG meaning*, the specific task that the monster hunters have is pretty much exactly what Park Rangers do, with the slight added complication that the critters they monitor arrive from other dimensions and tend to be dangerous monsters. But considering the ecological balance, keeping down the population of predators, making the experience of 'tourists' and locals as pleasant as possible, these are all things that park rangers do.

Pretty much the biggest strike against the name, however, is that the supernatural hunters of the British conspiracy, some of whom occasionally visit the Caribbean to defend British or Commonwealth interests there, call themselves the Rangers (might be short for Queen's Rangers or tongue-in-cheek 'Queen's Park Rangers', but they mostly just say 'Rangers'). So Kessler's hunters calling themselves 'Rangers' would be very negatively received by their rivals/allies, not to mention probably be viewed as pretty declassé by the American hunters themselves. But a term that was similar, but distinct might have emerged.

That being said, the British Rangers ran their first 'official' operation in 2005 and the private American network funded by Kessler might not have become aware of them for quite a few years after that. Kessler's bunch was set up between 1986-1990 and while they first functioned more as security for scholars and investigators than actual strike teams, mission creep meant that they had in fact become full-time professional monster hunters at the latest by 2000-2002 or so, often going in as a strike team with the objectives being purely search and destroy.

So it might well be that whatever Kessler's hunter teams call themselves, it might have been fixed before they ever became aware of the secret British supernatural monster hunting Ranger teams, which despite even more informal and secret antecedents, are actually newer in their modern incarnation than Kessler's teams.

*Which might actually reflect the fact that some of the hunters are gamers. From 1995, after the loss of 16 hunters, scholars and investigators in one incident, Kessler brought Dr. Alfred L. Lapointe on board the Penemue, officially as the 'librarian', but more relevantly, as the live-in academic, researcher, occultist and ritual magician. And Dr. Lapointe was and is an avid gamer who has probably been the DM/GM/Keeper/Other in an ongoing gaming group aboard the Penemue since then. He might not get many of the hunters to play with him, but still, there's no rule that says former military personnel can't be roleplayers or decide to try out the hobby during dull times aboard ship.