Women Seek to Join US Army Rangers
About 20 women will enter the U.S. Army Ranger School for the first time on April 20. The school has one of the most difficult training programs for soldiers. But a new Army survey shows that many male soldiers are unhappy about it.
The Army says Rangers “conduct airborne and air assault operations, seizing key terrain such as airfields, destroying strategic facilities, and capturing or killing enemies of the nation.”
The training at Ranger School is “physically and mentally grueling.” Less than half of the male soldiers who begin the training complete it. During the 62-day-long course, soldiers train in the jungle, mountains and swamps.
The women who will enter the Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia have already completed a 16-day-long course called Ranger Training Assessment Course, or RTAC. The course includes some of the same physical challenges as the Ranger School. It also includes testing of a soldier’s ability to lead others.
Letting women enter Ranger training is part of the U.S. military’s larger effort to open many jobs to women that they have historically not been allowed to perform. Women are not permitted to hold some of the most dangerous jobs, including infantry and Special Forces, like Rangers, SEALs and Green Berets.
On April 6, the Associated Press reported that male soldiers serving in the special operations forces do not believe women can be Rangers. They fear that standards will be lowered so that women can meet them.
