The announcement by the Navy comes as two women are about to become the first female soldiers to graduate from the Army’s Ranger School on Friday.
Advertisement
Nineteen women started the Army Ranger course – 62 days of nearly constant physical and mental stress on little food and even less sleep.
In January 2013 then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey signed an order wiping away generations of limits on women fighting for their country, ordering a quarter-million positions open regardless of gender.
The U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence announced yesterday that 96 soldiers, including two women, met the standards of the Swamp Phase and will graduate from the Ranger Course Aug. 21.
The course packs in a slew of events that cross a variety of topography and environments like the dense woods of Fort Benning, the mountainous terrain in Dahlonega, Georgia, and the swamplands of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
Students who successfully completed the Swamp Phase will graduate on August 21 at Victory Pond.
“They are going through the exact same thing their male counterparts are”, Colonel David Fivecoat, a Commander with the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade told ABC News.
They were among 400 soldiers, including 20 women, selected for Ranger School on April 19.
Barno said the women’s success in Ranger school, which is highly respected among all the services, will likely influence other branches.
Many military men continue to believe that women lack the strength to fight and survive in the harshest conditions.
The Army has not yet released their names, in part to protect them from harassment by die-hards who cannot stomach the idea of females wearing the coveted Ranger tab.
Women constitute about 15% of active-duty military, which has long resisted putting women in combat roles. Military officials have emphasized they expect men and women to be treated and evaluated equally in training programs.
“I am trying to make sure they have every opportunity to succeed or fail”, Fivecoat said.
Advertisement
The Army had faced resistance to allowing women to serve in combat units, but since such experience is a factor in promotions and job advancement in the military, women have had greater difficulty than men in moving up to the top ranks, officials have said. There has been a lot of study and debate over whether to open those positions, because they often involve fighting in small units on the front lines, doing physically punishing tasks. It may lead to opening at least some combat jobs to women.
