How The Army Tried To Avoid Telling The Truth About Women In Ranger Training

| August 30, 2019

Skippy via Ex-PH2 sends us an article describing how Big Army and those with agendas lowered the Ranger training bar for female Ranger candidates. This is second in a two part series- the first part covers the grueling training regime Ranger candidates must endure to qualify, and how this was eased for the women. The second part describes how Big Army goes into damage control mode to cover up the training discrepancies between men and women.

James Hasson

The Department of the Army’s reaction to the allegations is more important than the allegations themselves.

The impetus for Susan Katz Keating’s bombshell story in People diagramming the concerns from Ranger Instructors (RIs) about watering down of course requirements for women was a letter sent by a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Steve Russell of Oklahoma, to Army Secretary John McHugh.

Russell was a highly-decorated infantry lieutenant colonel and Ranger School graduate who had a distinguished career of more than twenty years in the Army (including commanding a battalion that played a central role in capturing Saddam Hussein) before retiring and becoming a member of Congress. Russell’s letter asked the Army to provide all internal Ranger School documents related to the female candidates’ training and assessment, including “test scores, evaluations, injuries, pre-training and more.”

Russell had spoken to several RIs who told him one story—that standards had been lowered and senior Ranger Training Brigade officials had unduly influenced the outcome of the course—while the Army was telling him another—that everything was the same as always. “The training of our combat warriors is paramount to our national defense,” Russell wrote to Secretary of the Army John McHugh. “In order to ensure that the Army retains its ability to defend the nation, we must ensure that our readiness is not sacrificed.” (It’s worth noting that Russell also went out of his way to emphasize in his public statements that he did not, and would not, question the abilities or records of any of the individual candidates themselves. His concern was solely about the possibility that officials with their own agendas had improperly influenced the course and about the effects their actions would have on the Army.)

McHugh’s office responded to Russell’s letter one day before the due date and asked for additional time to complete his request. Nine days after that, Army officials informed Russell that nearly all of the training records (including, presumably, the observation report reproduced above) had been destroyed.

How convenient. Closer to my point of reference, post-Tail Hook, the Las Vegas Navy debacle, had people so gun-shy of even mildly reproaching a female sailor, that Instructor Pilots passed a below average female pilot for F-14s. LT Kara Hultgreen perished attempting to land onboard USS Abraham Lincoln.

Read the rest of the article here: Daily Caller

Category: Big Army, Guest Link, Politics

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Sparks

So in other words, we’ll get Rangerettes instead of Rangers. Goes to show you can make anything work, as long as you’re willing to change the outcome needed.

Skippy

Exactly ^^^^

Zulu02

I’ll be the first to comment. I went through Ranger School twice, first as an ROTC cadet in lieu of summer camp, and then as a 2LT because although I completed the 9 week and 2 day ROTC course, I was boarded and was not awarded the tab. All I got was credit for summer camp. After I graduated from college, did airborne and the basic course I went back for a winter Ranger stint. It sucked again, and after breaking an ankle on a jump and doing the Mountains a 3d time, I graduated. Back in the day, unless you were injured you did not get a chance to recycle. I understand it is different now. Rumor has it that you will get recycled just to boost the graduation rate. Whether that is true or not I do not know. But, there was something going on to get these ladies graduated is my opinion. And all the training records destroyed? Give me a break. It was not 5 minutes the second time I went that an RI came up to me and said “What the F*** are you doing here again? Just sayin’ I will say that the second time was a lot easier than the first. More like an 8 week camping trip. Rangers, Lead the Way.

rgr769

I was a winter Ranger in 1968-1979 and it was the most difficult, challenging thing I ever did. In my platoon there was a Reserve CPT who had done a tour as an infantry officer in the Viet of the Nam. He said he would rather have done another tour there rather than repeat any phase of Ranger School. In my class there was little they could have made more difficult. Anyone, other than the Malaysian 2LT, who lost a man as patrol leader or APL would have failed that leadership position. I might also add, they didn’t send in a general officer to act as an RI to make sure one of us passed our patrols as a leader.

rgr769

Sorry for the typo. That should say 1969, not 1979. I would not be here typing this if I spent over ten years in Ranger School.
Back in my day, nobody was recycled more than twice.

timactual

” He said he would rather have done another tour there rather than repeat any phase…”

I still say that about Ft. Benning in general. Part of my year there was spent “supporting” the Ranger school. I learned a lot there. One thing I learned was how cold it can get in a Florida swamp. You don’t actually “freeze your balls off”, it just looks and feels that way because the ice-cold swamp water sends your gonads up to fight with your tonsils. The good news is that the snakes avoid the cold water.

I also learned how cold it can get in Georgia. Being a born and raised Yankee, geographically anyway, I was definitely shocked when it got below freezing in Georgia. Then, when we were sent up to Dahlonega I thought I was back in Germany. They issued us parkas and Mickey Mouse boots. The doors to the windowless barracks were thick and insulated, reminding me uncomfortably of a reefer door. Not that we spent a lot of time in the barracks.

So, if it makes you feel any better, we “aggressors” didn’t have it so good, either, though we probably did have it better than you. But I do feel your pain.

rgr769

One night in the Florida swamp, we were walking on huge logs from fallen trees. I couldn’t understand why my feet kept slipping on them, so I reached down and scraped something out of the lugs of my jungle boot soles–it was ice. The temperature must have been below freezing and the top of the logs had frosted up.
I suspect you were better fed than we were at only one C-rat meal a day. Plus, most nights in the field we were lucky to get one to two hours of sleep. Several nights we moved all night until first light (BMNT for you REMFs). My fave experience were the one rope bridge river crossings. Getting in the water in January was grim.

timactual

I rather enjoyed my time at the various Ranger phases, but as you said I was a bit better fed (although we were still glad to get back to “civilization” and stock up on canned chili at the mini-PX. and rested. My sleep deprivation came in AIT, where a URI kept me from sleeping. I learned the truth of one of Bill Mauldin’s cartoons–
http://www.45thdivisionmuseum.com/Exhibits/Mauldin.html

Also could sleep at parade rest.

I was not surprised to read about fatalities from hypothermia in the Florida phase. I would be surprised if there were not some at Dahlonega, too.

SSG Kane

I have concerns with the records being destroyed. It doesn’t strike me as right based on my experience as an MOS/T instructor, my time as a drill sergeant, or my personal experience.

Hell, every time I need to have my clearance renewed I have to answer questions about highly individual things that happened at BCT & AIT back in 1992. Things like “Why did you let a fellow trainee fall asleep while on fireguard?”, “Why didn’t the detail you were in charge of finish cleaning the chow hall in time?”, and my favorite “How did you score an A+ on your blood test?”

None of those things were things I was counseled for, well outside of getting smoked until I puked, which means the only written records are of the cadres observations. Mine have endured for over 25 years, including a 12 year break in service, so I’m pretty sure theirs did.

Just Lurkin

I mean, it’s not like anyone could have known this. Unless, you know, they were reading this very blog.

Club Manager, USA ret.

I had the privilege of supporting the Fort Lewis Ranger Company and then the Dugway Proving Ground training cadre where they conducted the desert phase of the Ranger Course. Named the new fitness center after my friend deceased acting SGM instructor MSG Donnie Shocklee killed in a night training jump in 90′. So it is with much chagrin to learn the Army has stonewalled Congressman Russell but have no doubt in my retired military mind he will kick ass and take names over someone being so ill advised as to have destroyed those training records. Rangers Lead the Way!

Ex-PH2

It’s called cheating where I come from.

It’s happening in girls’ high school sports, too. Boys who are substandard athletes declare themselves to be “girls” so that they can participate in girls’ sports like track and field, to win college scholarships and compete in front of college coaches.

rgr769

Back when some were high fiving over these females getting the tab, you questioned my skepticism. Well, I had heard numerous rumblings in the Ranger community that the fix was in. Contrary what many may think, there is really no place in the infantry for females in rifle companies, for obvious physical, biological reasons. Plus, it will always be damaging to unit cohesion and morale.

Slow Joe

I agree wholeheartedly.

11B-Mailclerk

But that would mean Progressives are wrong, and they can’t change reality by simply demanding people ignore reality and obediently implement Progressive shibboleths,

And That Thought Cannot Be Permitted!

Ex-PH2

My response was that if they adhered to the standards, they should pass.

Those rumblings from the Ranger community constitute gossip, which might or might not have had some basis in reality. There are always people who will complain about someone succeeding and/or getting ahead. This is not new. It happens in the civilian world all the time.

There’s nothing wrong with my taking those rumblings with a grain of salt.

During World War II, when women were recruited to the military to release men for deployment to the European and Pacific theaters, the men who did NOT want to deploy started the rumors that these women were either whores or lesbians. That crap followed us girls all the way into the 1960s and 1970s and no one put a stop to it. None of that was true, but WE had to put up with it.

That is what my skepticism is based on.

There is a wide difference between disgruntled “rumblings” and verifiable information.

rgr769

Well, it wasn’t disgruntled rumblings when they sent a general officer to pass the two females on their patrols so they wouldn’t flunk out of Ranger School for the fourth time. Here is a clue for you, Ranger Instructors (RI’s) are NCO’s and junior officers (O-2’s and O-3’s) not O-7’s and O-8’s.
Also, it was not a rumor or “rumblings” that these women were given several months of special, exclusive full-time training and coaching by former RI’s before going to Ranger School that no male has ever received. Then when the eight of them flunked out, they were repeatedly recycled three times, with more coaching and physical training between recycles. But then some here like to ignore uncomfortable facts that don’t support their biases. The idea that a 125 pound female can carry a 150 pound infantryman’s combat load is absurd. I’d love to see that female Air Force officer they just pinned a tab on with that combat load, including 35 pounds of body armor. In the photo, she looks like she weighs less than 100 pounds.

(I might add that I pointed out these uncomfortable facts at the time they graduated the two female Army officers.)

Ex-PH2

I’m not arguing with you. You used the word ‘rumblings’ in the first place. I said, long ago, that if they met the standards and passed, I had no issues with it. Hasson’s book says they did not, and that they got special treatment.

Your response also supports that, and that is what I was addressing.

If the military can’t attract enough women to these “special ops” programs to form even a small platoon, then what is the point of offering it in the first place.

The Navy decided to open BUD/S to women. One young woman, a college junior, decided to try. She spent three weeks at Great Lakes, which is where the trials are held and despite her experience as a competitive swimmer, she could not qualify. At least she tried, and there was no cheating. That’s my point.

timactual

” if they adhered to the standards, they should pass”

There are no “standards” for unit cohesion or morale. Meeting physical standards are only a part of being an effective soldier in an effective unit.

” no one put a stop to it ”

How would you put a stop to it? Create commissars and organize all the troops into three-man, oops, I mean three-person cells where everyone is responsible for monitoring and reporting the conduct of everyone else?

Or perhaps, like Canute, just order such talk to stop. With the same results.

Slow Joe

Absolutely.
The biggest issue is unit cohesion and morale, not whether they can meet the physical standards.

So let’s brainwash all infantrydudes into becoming civilized progressive Millenials and you’ll have your vaunted mobile infantry.

timactual

I love Heinlein, and I loved Dina Meyer in the shower scene, but this time Heinlein was full of crap.

Just Lurkin

Actually, in the book, the grunts were all males.

The Stranger

Exactly. In the book, the starship pilots were typically female, something to do with better spatial recognition or some such. In other words, there were different roles based on strengths and weaknesses between the sexes. Imagine that.

timactual

Right. My bad. It’s been a few decades since I read the book, so my memory is a bit faulty. I still like the shower scene though.

Ex-PH2

The movie was only LOOSELY based on Heinlein’s novel of the same name. His third wife Virginia was a chemist, biochemist, and engineer. She may have been the inspiration for some of the female characters in his novels.

JR Anderson

Hooah! Passing out tabs to prove a point is a dangerous game and the lives that will be lost is not worth it to meet an agenda. Old School 101st Airborne 3 Bde 187th– 1990-1991. Also the Army needs to quit with disillusion. I’m sorry everyone is not equal physically or mentally! But it is the TRUTH!!!!

reddevil

I am not a Ranger, in any sense of the word. I am, however, very familiar with the course, the standards, and how the Army makes Rangers. I watched this process up close, and I think this story is a bit misleading. First, some background. Ranger School is not unique because it is arguably the toughest training in DoD. It is unique because it bridges conventional and Special Operations training by design, and at its heart it evaluates leadership under very tough conditions. Students, regardless of background and rank, are evaluated on their actions as small unit infantry leaders in positions that would normally be filled by experienced NCOs and officers. It was intended to give regular Army Soldiers Ranger experience and training so they could bring it back to the regular Army. It is one of the only (if not the only) ‘Special Operations’ course that does not change your occupation. A chaplain can attend Ranger School and go back to being a chaplain. If you finish BUD/S, the Q Course, etc., that is now your new job. Not so with Ranger School. In fact, if you want to go to the Ranger Regiment, tab or not, you have to go to Ranger Assessment and Selection (RASP). Second, attrition at Ranger school is an elusive concept. Some people ‘fail’ Ranger school, but most quit. The saying in the Army is you come back with a tab or a story. Generally speaking, if you haven’t committed a serious safety or honor violation, you can keep recycling as long as you want and your unit will put up with it. You can fail each phase once for each of three reasons once and restart that phase: Spot reports, patrols, or peer evals. Once you fail for all three it is a Day Zero recycle. Very few want to do that. It is not uncommon to meet an Infantry LT that repeated every phase at least once. Statistically, very few want to repeat Mountain phase. The problem with the story is that it is about performance on patrols, which is a subjective… Read more »

Green Thumb

Career preservation.

The standards were lowered.

If RI’s walking the course are saying this, I am going with it.

The next time you fly Delta, ask your pilot how many times he/she went through Flight School or qualifications standard.

If you are good with it, fly on.

Mason

What do you call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his medical school class?

Doctor.

Green Thumb

I usually ask questions before I engage a medical “professional”.

Your team, your call.

What do I call a “Doctor” that wound up at the bottom of his/her medical class?

Doctors without Borders.

Once again, your team, your call.

Navy Vet

What’s the difference between God and a Dr? God knows he’s not a Dr.

Hondo

I hear God will end up judging doctors.

I also hear God doesn’t much care for arrogance.

YourCreepyUncle

How, God doesn’t exist.

Skippy

BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!!!

Cobrakai99

We had a flight doc that used to say the answer to that question was Captain.

Green Thumb

Also, when I went, you recycled twice, you were sent packing on the first thing smoking back to your unit.

Unsure of where you are getting your info, to include a somewhat detailed “Ranger Check” for suspected shitbags, but I went through under a different set of rules.

reddevil

That point is semi-true. The Army has changed the way they fund Ranger school for officers a few times over the years. There was a time when Officers at Benning for OBC (pre-BOLC days) would recycle as many times as they had to- if they got a Day O recycle or were injured, they would Blackbird at Benning until they were ready to go. That’s when you would run into guys that spent a year at Ranger school.

In the mid-90s they changed this, and students got one trip through the course on the Army’s dime, but if they were recycled the gaining unit had to cough up the money. During this period, some units (82nd, 101st, 10th, 25th) would let guys recycle multiple times because their PL slots are actually coded Ranger. Mech units typically don’t care about it as much, so it was hit and miss.

During the war, it was more about deployments than the tab. So, guys that recycled but were in danger of missing a deployment train up or actual deployment the unit might tell them to drop out of the course and go later.

I had a guy working for me that that failed when he was an LT, didn’t go as a captain because his unit was deploying, and finally went (and passed) as a Major because he was headed to the 82nd and knew the Tab was a major discriminator.

Green Thumb

Maybe. Maybe not.

When I went, you no-go’d twice…..later.

rgr769

Hey dumbshit, they compromised their principles because they were ordered to do so. In case you have forgotten, they brought in a general officer to act as an RI to pass these females so they wouldn’t be bounced from the school for a fourth time.

reddevil

OK, so they lacked the moral courage to stand up to their chain of command but were brave enough to talk to a reporter anonymously. Either way, they compromised their principles.

However you want to see it is up to you, but personally I think it would have better for them and the Army (and the Nation) if the story was ‘RIs come forward after being fired for not violating their principles and passing undeserving Ranger students’

Send me the link to the story where the GO acted as an RI, I missed that part of the story.

rgr769

I don’t have the link. But I am sure Hasson has cited it in his book. It was during the Darby phase patrolling exercises. The general who graded and passed the females on their patrolling exercises was in the chain of command for the Ranger Training Brigade. I think he was a one or two star. I couldn’t believe it, when I read the article. I never ever saw a major or above (except for the one who was student in my class) when I went through the course. Most RI’s were senior NCO’s, mostly E-7’s as patrol evaluators, and there were some 1LT’s and CPT’s serving as instructors and RI evaluators.

Reddevil

Respectfully, I will withhold judgment on the General RI until I see proof. The only 2 Star that would have done this is one of these three guys:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_S._Miller
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._McMaster
https://www.ausa.org/people/ltg-eric-j-wesley

They were the 2 Star CGs at Benning during this period. None of them strikes me as the ‘compromise on standards’ type.

I agree with you that the Army should have maintained standards, and that the culture and cohesion of the Infantry is at stake here.

Where we disagree is on methods. Barring women outright will only result in unending protests and lawsuits, which the Army and DoD will lose. It is simply not legally defensible to bar someone from a job or school simply because of sex (I didn’t say gender, that is an entirely different argument).

So, I say let anyone qualified try. Maintain standards. If they make it, awesome. If they don’t too bad.

There is a common misperception that only those that couldn’t qualify for anything else settle for the infantry. The fact is that of the very small percentage of Americans that elect to serve, an even smaller percentage chooses a combat job, and a fraction of those pick the infantry.

Those very few women women that are both willing and able to complete the training would get to a very tightly bonded, very unique team. Like most men, most women that made their way to an actual unit would realize that it is tougher in a unit than it was in training, and they will either get out or change MOSs after their first enlistment. Also good.

So, if these RIs passed a Ranger that didn’t deserve it, they are the ones responsible for the debacle that follows. The GO

rgr769

Well, like you said, “I am no Ranger, by any sense of the word.” So why would you care, as a Ranger tab means nothing to you. Maybe for you cannon cockers, having women assigned to an artillery unit doesn’t matter, since you are all riding around in vehicles. And I guess we’ll never see the evidence of who passed them on their patrols that they failed twice before, as all the documentation about them has been destroyed so it can’t see the light of day. All I know is having women in an infantry rifle company in a combat operation is a formula for trouble if not disaster. As far as lawsuits go, I doubt you are qualified to opine as to what is a winning one. No one is guaranteed a slot at Ranger school anymore than one is guaranteed they will get accepted in any specialized training not promised in an enlistment contract, and even then the remedy is they can leave the service.

Green Thumb

Word.

Just Lurkin

The lawsuit bit is nonsense anyway, remember the federal courts explicitly said that males had to register for the draft, but females were exempt, because females were barred from the combat arms. So the courts had recognized the policy as justification for their own rulings, I don’t see how that could possibly mean that the government couldn’t win a suit against it on “gender discrimination” grounds.

CCO

I’m sorry. Please retransmit. The text on my browser says something crazy like “they brought in a general as a ranger instructor” and that can’t be right.

11B-Mailclerk

Is it routine to destroy the Ranger class records?

rgr769

Only when they pertain to female Ranger students.

11B-Mailclerk

That does suggest some shenanigans.

Just An Old Dog

I don’t see why, other than class rosters of who started the class and who graduated why it would be more important than any other military school.
Individual performance isn’t important enough data to keep. You would have tons of paper being stored.
Even class performance data is used only to figure out how to hone the test and eval process and is useless after changes are made.
I’m sure that if you go to the Special Forces/ Marine Raider/ USAF Pararescue and BUDs courses you would find they don’t keep individual score cards from events.

timactual

“a Chow Thief”

Heh. We “aggressors” were briefed about that. We were warned to hide and securely stow any foodstuffs we wanted to keep. One guy in my platoon called out one of the instructors for “liberating” a can of C-rats. He didn’t take it well. Probably low blood sugar and lack of sleep.

” Why did they compromise their principles at the time, but come out to the press later”

They succumbed to pressure. It is unfortunately not uncommon in the real world. Seen it and done it myself. As is complaining about it later when the threat is gone.

rgr769

Every time we searched one of your camps in the boonies, the only thing we were looking for was food. I was thrilled to find a can of C-rat peanut butter on one raid. On one Huey helicopter move during the 10 day exercise, the crew chief on the bird gave me a piece of KFC; I was in heaven. I had it eaten before we were in the air five minutes.

timactual

While in Florida one day we were tasked for some sort of improvised non-scheduled training exercise. A flight of Hueys picked us up and as we flew along I noticed a few odd things. Some of the choppers were weaving back and forth, sometimes a little close, and our my chopper was bouncing a bit much. The guy in the jumpseat between the pilots leaned over to me and mentioned that they were going to graduate from flight school next week. Then, as I closely watched the AC, a captain, he reached out and took the stick. Amazing difference, and a great relief. The chopper flew as steady as a rock. Then we made a simulated air assault. Much more enjoyable when they ain’t shooting at you. It was the only time I ever saw smoke used by a Huey to cover the LZ.

My favorite, and last, Huey flight.

rgr769

Gotta a lotta them Huey rides in the Viet of the Nam. Had one where the pilot had me climb in the co-pilot seat and gave me some stick time. I also had a Loach pilot try to teach me to hover over our company helipad. I managed to only last about 10 seconds before I started wobbling all over the place.

Just An Old Dog

Slight correction Reddevil, BUDS does not mean you are a SEAL. You still have to attend other courses and go through a probation period before you earn the trident.
It’s just one of the qualifiers for that NEC.

Mike W

I’ve never attended Ranger school. Based on what graduates told me during my 13 years in light/airborne infantry:
It is NOT a “Special Operations” course. It is a LEADERSHIP course. Can YOU as a leader get a bunch of tired/starving soldiers to complete a fairly simple mission in TERRIBLE terrain.

I went to 25th ID(L) “RIP” course which is what soldiers who wanted to go to Ranger School from the division had to pass before they would be sent. As an NCO, I was “suggested” I should go/attend and it would make my Bn chain of command happy.[4/27 Wolfhounds-90-93]

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it.

5th/77th FA

Somebody got a shocked face I can borrow? Anybody? Seems like this was the outcome we had suspected from the beginning. Sad…isn’t it?

Imma going with Green Thumb on this one.

Toxic Deplorable Racist B Woodman

Here. You can borrow mine. I have enough shocked face for the both of us.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

I knew it. I knew it

Stacy0311

Semi personal knowledge of one of the candidates.
I was deployed with the “first female enlisted to complete Ranger school” on a very small FOB (look up Union III). Interacted with the individual on a professional basis. Stick up the ass is a good way to describe her personality (or maybe she just didn’t like officers, who knows).

Yes she was a PT stud. With that being said, she was also a very petite individual. Probably under 66″ and maybe 120lbs. Having seen the packing lists for Ranger School and having humped a ruck as a grunt for 13 years, I doubting that this individual was given the radio or the 240B during patrols or some of the other mission critical equipment. Is that a big deal? Maybe, maybe not. It does indicate that “consideration” may have been given to a particular candidate as reddevil says. It also means that the individual did NOT pass by adhering to the same standards that everyone else met.

But is anyone shocked that Army leadership would be willing to bend things for good PR? And then go after people who called bullshit on the it?

rgr769

Thanks for posting this. I read Hasson’s article in the Daily Caller about how this one female completely failed in her job as student platoon SGT and lost one of her men. The entire mission had to be scrubbed because of the missing male student, who was bounced from Ranger School, while she was given a pass of this leadership position. Un-effing believable. From everything I heard back when all this went down, I knew the program standards were being “cooked” to make sure some females passed. Hasson’s materials prove it. These “ladies” deserved their Ranger tabs about as much as that Malaysian 2LT in my class who was given a tab for foreign policy political reasons. I might add the Malaysian was used by us as a pack mule and could not have passed any leadership position, if he was even given one, as he could speak little English.

Mason

First female Air Force Ranger tabbed.

https://www.afimsc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1948812/female-airman-earns-a-ranger-tab/

With the way the Army is in obvious cover-up mode all these women, whether they made it on their own merits or not, will have a shadow cast over their achievement.

11B-Mailclerk

This is why you do not fucking compromise standards.

Or -ethics-

rgr769

Can you imagine her with 35 lbs. of body armor, a 100 pound ruck and a 240B? Of course, being in the Chair Force, she will never have to ruck up. And to think the two SEALs in my class did not get the tab because they did not pass more than half their leadership stints in the field. (Florida sank them because they had to command a whole platoon and do infantry in Vietnam type operations.)

rgr769

Also, when our SEALs were either patrol leader, assistant patrol leader or even platoon leader, they never lost a man in the woods or swamp. That was instant failure back in my day because you are, for real, imperiling the life and safety of one of your men.

rgr1480

“Send up the head count”

How many times did we do that?? No one in our class never lost a man either.

rgr769

Likely about a couple of hundred. When you were patrol leader, you knew you had a problem when you didn’t get the correct number. Then it was time to find out who was missing after the last stop. But no one was ever “missing” for long, as usually “he” was found asleep behind a tree fifty yards back down the trail.

Poetrooper

She looks like she could fit inside a ruck…

Helpful Medal

I don’t honestly know what happened during the school. One thing I DO know (and that the Army was open about) is that these women were hand-picked from their units and placed in a preparation program that lasted for months. In this program they did NOTHING but train for the Ranger Course and even had former RIs providing the bulk of the instruction. This is fucking bullshit because NO ONE else gets that kind of prep time before the course. Even people assigned to Ranger Batt waiting for a course are still going to be doing all types of administrative bullshit and manual labor while waiting for a Ranger School Slot.

And don’t even get me started on that Army Reserve Engineer Major they sent. They put that woman on COADOS orders ONLY to train for Ranger School for months? FUCK. YOU. That is some shady shit.

Ex-PH2

It was done during the Prior Administration, not the current Admin. And who was in the White House back then?

rgr769

Except the SJW’s pushing this horseshit are still in the Army, running things. They have effectively cheapened the best combat leader training course in the history of the Army just so they can say tabs were pinned on some females. I guess shemales (chicks with dicks) will be next to get tabbed.

11B-Mailclerk

As “Ranger” is the soul of the infantry, infantry is the soul of the army.

They sabotaged that, because it was teaching things no in accord with Progressivism. They intend to murder it, just as they destroy all other aspects of civilization.

Cultural and civilization AIDS.

rgr769

Yes, progs and SJW’s are like an Ebola virus. They try to infect everything in their path. They are like the Borg and seem to have a hive mind.

Some Guy

IIRC, they were sent to RTAC, a 16 day Ranger prep program run by the National Guard WTC. The national guard sends prospective Rangers to that program all the time, since it increases the chances of passing and gauges aptitude for the actual course (and it’s also less expensive than the real thing). No shame in going to a prep course IMO.

rgr1480

Yup … Class 14-80. I am proud to have earned my tab before the watering-down began in 2015.

During that same year — 1980 — CPT Katy Wilder cheated on Robin Sage and was DQed from the SF Officer Qualification Course. She appealed to Big Army and Gen. Starry gave her credit for successfully graduating the SF course. Because of that incident the Officer course was merged into the Q-Course; since then officers and NCOs trained together.

Anyway … in Sep 1980 after the Wilder episode, the RIs were mocking the SF and said “If a “crack troop” ever gets a TAB, that’s the day I take mine off.” Heard that more than once. Certainly those RIs are long retired and will not need to remove their Tab. (^__^)

Felipe mendez

Sad to see comments of training water down.. his is going to be like baseball in the steroid era.. there are going to be rangers’ been single out as the before this “female” class and the rangers’ after.. man oh man.. sad to see our service members being place in this situation in which they have to justify whom course was harder.. either way.. if you are on my team, I got your back..

Skippy

👍👍
Your comment is 10+++
We need to leave politics
Out of these schools
In the end never leave a fallen bother and sister

Slow Joe

Hey, the only ones bringing politics into the military are the Democrats.

Don’t blame my side for what these morons do.

Skippy

I know it’s the libs
Right now they have a serious
Case of being Bat Shit Crazy

Helpful Medal

Oh, and another thing: that Army Reserve Major that graduated pisses me off because other than the 442nd Infantry Regiment the Army Reserve DOES NOT get Ranger Course Quotas. So rather than send some qualified badass male Soldier from the Reserves they pulled a slot SPECIFICALLY for a woman and sent her simply because she was a woman and not because of her qualifications.

Joel Trenkle

I completed Ranger School after serving a tour in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in 1965. Ranger School was in many ways much more demanding physically and mentally. Being one of the few to receive the Ranger tab is still one of the most proud moments of my life. It saddens me to think the standards for this honorable achievement have been changed for any reason. There is a purpose for Ranger training that superceeds bragging about receiving the Tab. It is to create confidence and skill in a combat soldier.

Skippy

The reason I forwarded this article up the TAH chain of command
Is simple I know and am still good friends with a former RI
Of the mountain course, one night we were having a cook out
He dad one of my uncles both retired Army got a ear full
Of events on there leg of the Q course, in unbeknown to me
My step son from my first marriage had done a rotation
Up at the mountain course he’s a marine completed
And received his certificate he’s storytelling about this
And everyone being told to stay in there lane
Brought back memories of my time in the army
About RIs who didn’t belong there because they weren’t
Really RIs to begin with I thought was crazy
My biological son is now in the Army
And I have to say I’m worried about this
They need to keep politics out of these schools
My son has already lost a friend in operations overseas
I now wonder if this is because (I’m a parent and ret Army)
Of lowered standards and PC BS of our military
I feel bad I brought this up on here 4 years ago
And had my ass handed to me
I’m no a ranger so I left it alone and stayed in my lane
But like the DOJ / FBI it’s starting to look like the DOD
Is up to its neck in politics the scary thing to is it runs deep
Jag has gone to hell the DIAs involvement with the Russian HOX
It goes on and on I would have never believed any of this
But it’s there the only way to clean it up is to expose it
And it’s not getting done
God help us we need it

Ps if the spelling is off you try typing on a phone 😂😂

5th/77th FA

Skippy, IMHO you done good bringing this up. As others have stated so eloquently, PC is NO reason to lower standards.

NHSparky

Pump versus filter.

Where have I seen that before? Oh well, fuck standards, who needs them?

NEC338x

Agreed. And continuing through today. What it gets us are more future flag-draped coffins of officers and enlisted.

Teckelwood

As a West Point cadet (1948-1952), I had to do 10 or 12 pullups for Annual PT Test. My Ranger Tab was from Class 2-58. Last I heard, Ranger School requires SIX pullups. Draw your own conclusion.

rgr769

Back in my day if you couldn’t do ten, you didn’t eat. Ten was your ticket into the mess hall. They likely dropped it to six to accommodate the females.

Devtun

MG Kurt Sonntag allegedly ramrodded lowered standards for women candidates at the SF Q Course. Worked great for him…he got a 3rd star. Where the heck was SF qualified CSA GEN Mark Milley in all this?

rgr769

He pussed out to the 0bama regime. He can be seen in the photos awarding the Ranger tabs to these first two Rangerettes.