WASHINGTON—Two women are set to graduate Friday from the Army’s Ranger School in Fort Benning, Ga., bringing women one step closer to being able to serve in all combat positions.
The elite leadership course that pushes physical and mental limits was opened to women for the first time this year.
Nineteen women began the course in April, with two successfully completing, allowing them to wear the prestigious black and gold Ranger tab on their uniforms. Among male soldiers, 381 started the course and 94 successfully completed it.
Approximately 34% of students “recycle” or repeat at least one phase of the course, which covers physical fitness, swimming, obstacle courses, military mountaineering, parachuting and mock combat patrols, among other challenges.
Proponents of a greater role for women see it as part of an evolution in military thinking. Perceptions about “whether or not women are capable—physically, mentally or otherwise—those are now broken down,” said Janine Davidson, a former senior Pentagon official in the Obama administration and the first female pilot to fly the C-130 in the Air Force. “What’s left here now would be the barriers about our social perceptions.”
The Army hasn’t released the names of the two female soldiers, both graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Unlike their male peers, they won’t be allowed to try out for the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment, a combat-oriented Special Operations Force that continues to bar women. While the women can’t join the regiment for now, passing Ranger school will add to their eligibility for other infantry posts.
The Army and other services must decide by the end of this year if they will continue to block women from serving in combat roles that have previously been off limits to them, as the Ranger regiment is doing.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted the ban on women serving in ground combat roles in 2013, establishing a review process. Under that order, the military’s top brass must decide to eliminate all gender restrictions or else provide a justification for not doing so.
Waiver requests limiting women’s participation must be submitted to Defense SecretaryAsh Carter before Jan. 1, when Mr. Panetta’s policy shift is set to take effect.
Women for years have played increasingly important roles on combat teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, without being officially designated as part of them.
“This course has proven that every soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential,” Secretary of the Army John McHugh said in a statement. “We owe soldiers the opportunity to serve successfully in any position where they are qualified and capable, and we continue to look for ways to select, train, and retain the best soldiers to meet our nation’s needs.”
The changing role of women in the military has accompanied other changes through the ranks in recent years, including the abolition of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military and the planned end next year of a ban against transgender service members.
Less than 3% of the soldiers in the U.S. Army earn the Ranger tab, which is seen as a prerequisite for many of the Army’s infantry commands and is an official requirement for the 75th Ranger regiment.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/first-female-soldiers-to-graduate-from-armys-ranger-school-1439920871
