Eight remaining female candidates fail first phase of Ranger school | World Defense

Eight remaining female candidates fail first phase of Ranger school

Redheart

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
1,239
Reactions
319 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
Eight remaining female candidates fail first phase of Ranger school | Fox News

The remaining eight female Ranger School candidates failed the first phase of the U.S. Army’s elite infantry program, the Army said in a statement late Friday.

Of the eight women, five were kicked out of training. Three others will be allowed to start over from the beginning of the first phase of Ranger School. Those three will start class on June 21.

The Army said in a statement that 29 students failed to meet the standards of phase one, also known as the Darby Phase. A vast majority of the students who are being dropped from the course were unable to successfully lead a patrol. All students received multiple opportunities to lead a patrol as a squad or team leader, the Army said.

“Each Ranger student, whether successful or unsuccessful, learned more about themselves, leadership and small unit tactics, and returns to the Army a better trained Soldier and leader,” said Colonel David G. Fivecoat, Commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade.

This was the first time women were allowed to participate in Ranger School.

The Darby Phase is followed by a mountain phase which is then followed by a swamp or Florida phase. The next phase of Ranger School will start June 25.

A total of 60 women were originally slated to participate in Ranger Assessment Phase (RAP), according to the Pentagon in January. The Army Times reported in February that 100 women went into the pre-training phase, and in April, 19 women qualified for the Darby Phase.

The training for Ranger School is notoriously difficult. The Darby Phase consists of 15 days of intensive squad training and operations in field environment at Fort Benning, Georgia. The students get at least two days where they are counseled on their performance during the phase.

"The key is to ensure we have the right standard for the occupation," a defense official told Fox News earlier this month. "Our goal is to ensure that the mission is carried out by the best qualified and the most capable service members, regardless of gender."

The Rangers also note that 33 percent of the soldiers who graduate Ranger School are typically “recycled,” meaning they have failed the course at least once before.

The Pentagon lifted its ban on women in combat in 2012 and while they would not have been able to become full members of the Rangers, this would have given them their first foray into all-male Special Operations. Typically attached to combat units, at least 130 women were killed and 800 wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Many were “non-combat” in name only and involved in front line operations all the same.

Peer evaluations are held periodically in Ranger School, but a defense official could not confirm if those evaluations contributed to the women not completing the first phase of training.

According to statistics, only 3 percent of the U.S. Army is Ranger-qualified.
 

DancingLady

MEMBER
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
Messages
125
Reactions
18 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
We need to accept that men and women are physically and mentally different. Men are capable of things women are not, and vise versa. It sounds like not all men make it into this elite group either, so I doubt the issue is gender bias, but rather ability to perform the required tasks. Perhaps one day an exceptional woman will pass, but we shouldn't change the standard just because of this.
 

orangesunset

MEMBER
Joined
Jan 16, 2015
Messages
250
Reactions
47 0 0
Country
Hong Kong
Location
Canada
We need to accept that men and women are physically and mentally different. Men are capable of things women are not, and vise versa. It sounds like not all men make it into this elite group either, so I doubt the issue is gender bias, but rather ability to perform the required tasks. Perhaps one day an exceptional woman will pass, but we shouldn't change the standard just because of this.

This goes against political correctness which is the new form of censorship. Women are usually better then men at jobs which require people skills. So they are over represented in jobs like nursing, teaching and human resources. The problem with modern feminism is they only promote equality in fields where men are the majority.

When was the last time you heard a feminist group saying we need to get more male nurses, male teachers or get more men to work in human resources. It never happens :)

Generally speaking women are smaller then men, so they have harder problems doing more physical oriented tasks.
 

LilAnn

MEMBER
Joined
May 21, 2015
Messages
385
Reactions
87 1 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
In situations like this it shouldn't be closed off to women, but they shouldn't ease up on the requirements or let her slide on some parts just because they want to prove they believe in the importance diversity. If a woman can hack it like a man can then she should go through, otherwise sell be dead as soon as she sets foot down in enemy territory. I guess this is a situation where political correctness really is a matter of life and death.
 

missbishi

MEMBER
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
404
Reactions
118 0 0
Country
United Kingdom
Location
United Kingdom
Despite being a feminist, I am in full agreement with everyone else here who thinks that passing Ranger school should be determined by ability only. Gender has nothing to do with this at all and considering only 3% of the military could pass, it looks like this is really difficult for anyone to pass.
 

User911

BANNED
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
53
Reactions
9 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
Jobs that require physical standards should not have those standards lowered for anybody! It's the same with any other work as well. If a particular position requires you to be knowledge about plumbing and having plumbing experience, well, you need to be knowledge about plumbing and have plumbing experience.

It just so happens that Rangers need a lot of physical prowess. If that is what the job takes, then so be it. It is irrelevant that those that fail the program are male or female.
 

Redheart

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
1,239
Reactions
319 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
It's said that women [in the military obviously] from time to time accompany the elite forces as "non-combatants" on their missions. Many have been killed in action. That I believe is the reason why some people in the government felt that women should get some training because some do end up on the frontlines with Rangers, SEALs, etc, for some reason. While I'm not for the lowering of physical standards, I think that they [those who want to, that is] should get some basic "Ranger Training."
 

FuelThePlane

NEW RECRUIT
Joined
Jun 15, 2015
Messages
4
Reactions
4 0 0
Country
Canada
Location
Canada
I find it not only prudent that women be set to the same standards as men for Special Ops training I find it appalling that women have more lax requirements to graduate out of training and into active duty.

I'm not sexist, I think that if a woman can do the job a man can do the same or better she should be paid the same or even more if she can do a better job. I think women should be given every opportunity given to men except where it obviously isn't feasible. This cannot be more clear than in the Armed Forces. If a female cannot perform exactly up to the levels of her male counterparts then she should not be allowed to serve in a male troop.

Females who suggest that they should get easier requirements into the armed forces should realize that what they're saying is that they have no problem with being a burden and a less effective team member in life or death situations.

Let's say you're in some foreign country and out of nowhere you get shot in the leg and you cannot move yourself behind some sort of cover. Do you want a 5'4 120 pound girl trying to drag you away while getting shot at or a 5'10 185 pound man dragging you.

This isn't to suggest that I think females shouldn't be allowed in the Armed Forces, quite the contrary, I do believe that females should be put into female only squadrons. Where the size differential is greatly reduced ensuring that situations like the one suggested above cannot happen.
 

Redheart

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
1,239
Reactions
319 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
When two Female candidates graduated from ranger school everyone said, hey women can make it too into the elite forces. Apparently though, the whole thing was rigged so at least one woman would graduate:

Female Rangers Were Given Special Treatment, Sources Say : People.com

Way back in January, long before the first women attended the Army's elite Ranger School – one of the most grueling military courses in the world – officials at the highest levels of the Army had already decided failure was not an option, sources tell PEOPLE.

"A woman will graduate Ranger School," a general told shocked subordinates this year while preparing for the first females to attend a "gender integrated assessment" of the grueling combat leadership course starting April 20, sources tell PEOPLE. "At least one will get through."

That directive set the tone for what was to follow, sources say.

"It had a ripple effect" at Fort Benning, where Ranger School is based, says a source with knowledge of events at the sprawling Georgia Army post. "Even though this was supposed to be just an assessment, everyone knew. The results were planned in advance."

On Tuesday, PEOPLE revealed that Oklahoma Republican Rep. Steve Russell had asked the Department of Defense for documents about the women who attended Ranger School after becoming concerned that "the women got special treatment and played by different rules," sources say.

Ranger School consists of three phases: Benning, which lasts 21 days and includes water survival, land navigation, a 12-mile march, patrols, and an obstacle course; Mountain Phase, which lasts 20 days, and includes assaults, ambushes, mountaineering and patrols; and Swamp Phase, which lasts 17 days and covers waterborne operations.

But whereas men consistently were held to the strict standards outlined in the Ranger School's Standing Operating Procedures handbook sources say, the women were allowed lighter duties and exceptions to policy.

Women were first sent to a special two-week training in January to get them ready for the school, which didn't start until April 20. Once there they were allowed to repeat the program until they passed – while men were held to a strict pass/fail standard.

• Afterward they spent months in a special platoon at Fort Benning getting, among other things, nutritional counseling and full-time training with a Ranger.

• While in the special platoon they were taken out to the land navigation course – a very tough part of the course that is timed – on a regular basis. The men had to see it for the first time when they went to the school.

• Once in the school they were allowed to repeat key parts – like patrols – while special consideration was not given to the men.

• A two-star general made personal appearances to cheer them along during one of the most challenging parts of the school, multiple sources tell PEOPLE.

The end result? Two women – First Lts. Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver – graduated August 21 (along with 381 men) and are wearing the prestigious Ranger Tab. Griest was surprised they made it.

"I thought we were going to be dropped after we failed Darby [part of Benning] the second time," Griest said at a press conference before graduation. "We were offered a Day One Recycle."

At their graduation, Maj Gen. Scott Miller, who oversees Ranger School, denied the Army eased its standards or was pressured to ensure at least one woman graduated.

"Standards remain the same,” Miller said, according to The Army Times. "The five-mile run is still five miles. The 12-mile march is still 12 miles.

"There was no pressure from anyone above me to change standards," said Miller, who declined to speak to PEOPLE.

Instructors say otherwise.

"We were under huge pressure to comply," one Ranger instructor says. "It was very much politicized."

The women didn't want or ask for special treatment, says one who attempted the program.

"All of us wanted the same standards for males and females," Billi Blaschke, who badly injured her ankle only six days into a required pre-assessment program, tells PEOPLE. "We wanted to do it on our own."

On September 2, the Army announced that Ranger School is now open both to men and women.

Women are not currently allowed to perform Ranger duties, even Lts. Griest and Haver who passed the course. However, the Army will be forced to open Ranger positions to females on January 1, unless the Secretary of Defense grants an exception.

If the exemption isn't granted, the Army may send women into combat – which is why so many former and current Rangers are concerned about women being held to the same standards as men.

"Combat is brutal and unforgiving," says Jim Lechner, a retired Army officer and Ranger who was wounded in combat in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the famed "Black Hawk Down" incident. "Fighters must be prepared and capable. If they are not, people will die."

Ranger School teaches students how to overcome fatigue, hunger and stress to lead soldiers in small-unit combat operations.

"I remain unconvinced that the recent graduation of two female soldiers was a proper test of females' ability to perform in combat," Lechner tells PEOPLE.
 

Diane Lane

MEMBER
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
232
Reactions
70 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
I would not want special treatment, and I wouldn't want someone to depend on someone who only qualified because the rules were bent. In the types of situations the Rangers deal with, failure is not an option, failure can mean death. That is more important than anyone's ego or someone's desire to break through barriers, whether qualified or not.
 

BrandonA

NEW RECRUIT
Joined
Jul 26, 2015
Messages
15
Reactions
1 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
I also would not want women to receive special treatment, in large part because it in endangers them. The standards of Ranger School exist for a reason; they've been calculated to determine whether soldiers can survive the demanding survival and combat stresses. Plenty of examples in military history of soldiers being "waved through" whatever school or training and regretting it later. It's quite a common narrative.
 

djordjem87

MEMBER
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
117
Reactions
35 0 0
Country
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Location
Bosnia and Herzegovina
It is not an easy task to become a member of any elite unit , or special forces. It is hard for both, mind and body so only the hardest ones are able to pass all the obstacles given. Women are limited in some situations and tasks and the criteria shouldn't drop because women could not perform. I believe there will be a female or dosen of them who will be as good ranger as any male. It is the matter of time and women have already made progress in military in general. I believe in a system where everyone has its own place and that is a natural selection with little difference of us making the limits and boundaries.
 
Top