As women finish Ranger course, Army faces new pressure on gender barriers

Two female soldiers are making history as the first women to graduate from the Army’s Ranger School, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

“To look back on the physical shape that I was in going through the course, and knowing what I went through and how hard it was for me, then to imagine somebody else, they must be quite the female, they must be pretty tough”, says Infantry Army National Guard Officer Daniel Kingsley.

The Griest and Haver families issued a joint statement Wednesday saying the women “are just like all the soldiers in Class 8-15 – happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep”. These women shall wear the Ranger tab; however, they will not yet be allowed to apply to the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Navy will open its famed training school for SEALs to women, said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations.

The door has yet to be opened for women in infantry combat. But a defense official confirmed that Griest, a military police officer, was the second woman to finish the course.

This is the toughest, most grueling training to which Uncle Sam subjects any of his Army soldiers.

The Army estimated at least 34% of students will have to retake one phase of the course.

Only one third of Ranger School students make it straight through the first time.

The Swamp Phase brings the remaining, exhausted candidates to the severe-weather prone Camp Rudder in the Florida panhandle.

Women also are serving on Navy submarines and in Army artillery units. They must provide a rationale for each position they want to keep restricted.

The Pentagon’s final decision on what combat roles women will be permitted to fill is expected later this year. Neither woman has been identified by the military.

Completing Ranger School, however, does not necessarily lead to assignments in the Ranger Regiment for its graduates.

The fact that women aren’t allowed to perform certain roles comes as a surprise to many millenials, said Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow for defense policy Janine Davidson. They have fought insurgents in unsafe areas as top-gunners in Humvees and door-gunners on helicopters. Opening the Ranger training to women this year is part of that effort.

The news is likely to be met with a mixed reaction among veterans and active-duty service members.

It started with a week of physical tests at Fort Benning, GA.

“This is an Army school”, Barno said. Military leaders have not said whether they will seek any waivers.

But Retired Lt. Col. Don Bowman, a Columbus, Ohio, certified public accountant who is in the Ranger Hall of Fame, called the situation silly and questioned the financial cost to the Army.

“This is social engineering and political correctness run amok”, said Bowman, 80.

“I see no reason (not) to say: ‘Here are our standards”. The Army will introduce them Thursday in a media event.