Below is an interesting update on the controversy surrounding the now three women who have graduated Ranger School based on a media interview with the command team at Ft. Benning. Like I have maintained based on what I have read, it appears the special treatment for the females was that they received extensive pre-training and unlimited recycles like most infantry officers receive for Ranger School. Soldiers who are not infantry do not get the same pre-training and amount of recycles, so the inequity for Ranger School did not begin with the female graduates which no one is talking about:
Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commander, Maneuver Center of Excellence, shakes hands with Capt. Kristen M. Griest, one of the latest Soldiers to earn the Ranger tab, Aug. 21, 2015, at Fort Benning, Ga. PATRICK A. ALBRIGHT/U.S. ARMY PHOTO
Maj. Gen. Scott Miller’s voice held frustration late Friday afternoon during a quickly arranged media roundtable on the fourth floor of McGinnis-Wickam Hall, headquarters of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence.
The commanding general of Fort Benning has been fighting allegations for months that female soldiers were given special treatment to pass Ranger School, the most physically and mentally demanding training offered by the Army.
Four hours after the third woman graduated, Miller sat front and center with Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Metheny to his right and four members of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, including the commander, Col. David Fivecoat, and Command Sgt. Maj. Curtis Arnold, on his left flank.
“There are some people who obviously have some concerns,” Miller said. “I can’t address them if they are opaque. These guys can’t address them or fix them if they are opaque.”
Among the three reporters was Susan Keating, a People magazine correspondent who has reported that multiple unnamed sources have told her there was unfair assistance given to the women.
The most telling moment came more than 50 minutes into an interview that lasted almost an hour and a half. Miller, who won the Bronze Star for Valor as Delta Force ground commander in the Battle of Mogadishu, was asked if his credibility had been damaged by the allegations.
“I have thick skin and I am a public figure, but I will tell you who doesn’t deserve this is these guys,” he said, pointing to the Ranger instructors. “They don’t deserve this. … I keep telling everybody I will put my name on anything I say or do. If they are not willing to put their name on it or come back to me. …”
That sparked an exchange between Miller and the People correspondent, prompting Keating to ask Miller, “What if one of my sources comes to me and I say, ‘You need to go tell Gen. Miller right now, you need to go knock on his door and tell him exactly what you are telling me, and give him the same specifics, dates and details that you are giving me’? What’s the push back on that? Will he get repercussions?”
“He will not get repercussions,” Miller responded.
“Will you come back and say, ‘Why did you give a go when you shouldn’t have?” Keating asked the general.
“If he says he gave a go he shouldn’t have given, then he needs to report that,” Miller said.
“So, there would be repercussions for him, right?” Keating asked. “This is part of what we are up against. I have actually asked these people, why don’t you go knock on his door? He’s been in combat. He’s been around the block a few times, right? They say, ‘No. Our careers will be over. We will be ruined.” [Stars & Stripes]
The accusations about special treatment that allowed the two female officers to graduate the US Army’s Ranger School has just gotten more serious:
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.
Multiple sources told PEOPLE:
• 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.
The whole article is worth a read, but I think the words from Major General Miller in the article in regards to a woman will graduate Ranger School need further context to be a smoking gun. As far as the claims of special treatment I think it is fair to say that the female Rangers did get special treatment compared to male Ranger candidates from non-infantry MOSs. Infantry soldiers that attend Ranger school have an advantage over other candidates especially the officers because of the training they do to become proficient in their MOS which feeds naturally into tasks required during Ranger School. It appears the Army senior leadership made a decision to give female candidates as much of an advantage to pass the course as infantry soldiers receive.
I do not have a problem with this as long as the women trainees are treated exactly like how the male trainees have been treated over the years:
The Army is looking for female soldiers who want to volunteer to attend Ranger school.
The call-out is part of the Army’s ongoing effort to determine whether and how to open combat arms military occupational specialties to women.
Senior Army leaders are expected to decide in January if they want to move forward with this one-time, integrated Ranger school assessment. If the assessment moves forward, it likely will take place in the spring, and the Army will need volunteers already in place and ready to go, officials said Friday. [Army Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the Army claims the women trainees will have to meet the same fitness requirements as the males. However, will the fitness requirements remain the same as they have been? You can see the current fitness requirements here. Before someone says that those fitness requirements are not so bad make sure to also look at the recommended fitness requirements as well on that site. This is because on the physical fitness test the graders mess with you and do not count a lot of pushups, situps, and pullups. So if they did that to a female trainee would they be called sexist by the special interests even though they do the same thing to male trainees?
