A group of female West Point graduates is pushing back on a congressman who asked for the records of the first female Army Ranger School graduates by demanding his Ranger School records.
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Russell, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, was part of a congressional delegation that visited the Ranger School in April, shortly after the women began the course.
Russell, a Ranger graduate and Iraq veteran, sent a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh asking for documentation of the test scores, evaluations and other material regarding the training of Griest and Haver, People magazine reported.
Fulton said the women were angered that the lawmaker was insinuating Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver were given unfair consideration, and it reminded them of years of resistance to putting women in combat roles, including claims it would destroy unit cohesion and hurt national morale.
As for Russell’s letter, it gave until Friday for McHugh to produce the reports, according to People.
He also requested peer evaluations and “a complete breakdown of each female candidate’s recycle history and dates for each phase”.
One of those women is going through the third and final Swamp Phase for the second time. She said about a dozen West Point women graduates have joined her in the call for Russell’s records.
The criticism online and in social media has been so persistent that Maj.
“Ladies and gentlemen… standards are still the same… a 5-mile run is still a 5-mile run”, Miller said during last month’s graduation ceremony.
The required weight of the students’ rucksacks have stayed the same, “the mountains of Dahlonega are still here, the swamps remain intact”, he said.
“West Point women are very connected”, said Fulton, who was in the first class of female West Point graduates and serves as chairman of the school’s board of visitors, and is its second female member and first openly gay member. The Army on September 2 announced that Ranger School is now open to all qualified soldiers regardless of gender.
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“This is about the fact that these are the same kinds of objections we [female servicemembers] have heard for 40 years”.
