On Thursday, they fielded a barrage of questions as they sat on a media panel to discuss their experience at the notoriously tough school.
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One male graduate said that if it wasn’t for Haver, pictured, he may not have graduated himself.
“It’s pretty cool that they have accepted us”, Haver said.
Nineteen women and 381 men started Ranger Class 06-15 on April 20. The services can request waivers but would need to extensively document why women should not serve in specific fields.
The rest of the males nodded in knowing agreement.
It was 1st Lt. Shaye Haver who offered to share some of Janowski’s burden.
“She wasn’t the kid in high school that everyone said, ‘oh, she is the star of every sport, ‘ but she’s always been active and she’s someone who’s quietly determined”, Cambria said. I got a lot of deer in the headlight looks.
Except, he said, for one person. I stopped and I asked can anyone help take some of this weight. “I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now if it wasn’t for Shaye”.
Second Lt. Zachary Hagner was also skeptical of women at first.
The Army, which runs Ranger School, as opposed to the 75th Ranger Regiment, opened the school to women in spring 2015 as a pilot to see if women could complete the course, which includes grueling physical training across woods, mountains and swamplands, with little food and sleep. That creates a tendency to believe the military ought to fully reflect the individual opportunities and practices of our broader society, rather than society appreciating that the “sharp end of the stick” that fights to protect us is organized along different lines.
She added, “I think the battles that we won were individual….”
But the Center for Military Readiness, for one, said on its website it “takes issue with Obama Defence Department leaders and “politicians in uniform” who “are putting gender politics above national security and the best interests of both women and men in the military”.
Other men had similar stories.
“I’m sure they’re every bit as competent and capable as most of the males”. I had some low points, particularly in the swamps in Florida. The drug goes on the market as a prescription for diminished sexual desire disorder, or HSDD.
“You’re way too exhausted and way too hungry to honestly care”, said Staff Sgt. She took the weight off me and she carried it the last half of that road. “But she’s just motivated”. Mentally, physically, but today, for the first time ever, alongside new male rangers, the army introduced two women.
At the time she couldn’t, but she continued to train. “And then some”, to get in shape.
Despite some initial skepticism over acceptance by the men, Haver said the challenge at Ranger school was not about gender rivalry but rather an individual quest to fit in as a team member.
The Pentagon describes Ranger School as “the Army’s premier combat leadership course, teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress to lead soldiers during small unit combat operations”.
Instead, they praised the women for their dependability saying they would happily go to war or share a foxhole with Haver and Griest after observing them during Ranger school.
The women still can’t serve in a Ranger regiment but they hope the Pentagon will change that rule soon.
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“Congratulations to all of our new Rangers”.
