Walking across campus with a backpack full of heavy textbooks can be exhausting after a long day of classes. An Indiana University study from 2013 found that college-aged women who reported back and shoulder pain had backpacks that, on average, weighed between 15 and 20 pounds.
For the first female soldiers ever going through Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, however, walking around with a backpack weighing upwards of 50 pounds is just part of the daily grind.
On Aug. 21, 26-year-old Capt. Kristen Griest and 25-year-old 1st Lt. Shaye Haver made history by becoming the first females to graduate from Army Ranger School, which has been in existence since the early 1950s. On Friday they were joined by 37-year-old Maj. Lisa Jaster.
However, the U.S. Army is currently investigating the legitimacy of the women’s success in their training, as rumors have begun circulating that they may have received “special treatment” for their gender.
According to People Magazine, Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., a Ranger School graduate and 21-year Army veteran, sent a letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh last month requesting proof of the two women’s paperwork and test scores from their time in Ranger School. People Magazine stated an anonymous “Capitol Hill source” told them that Russell’s letter was written after rumors sparked that the women had received “special treatment” and “played by different rules.”
The Rangers are among the most agile and flexible special operations forces in the U.S. military, composed of infantry soldiers that specialize in air operations, reconnaissance and direct combat, according to army.mil.
Ranger School is regarded as one of the most physically and mentally demanding schools in the U.S. military. Ranger.org states that Ranger School is 61 days long, and that soldiers get five hours of sleep or fewer each night while consuming no more than 2,200 calories a day throughout training. The Fort Benning Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade official website states that the school had a 58 percent failure rate between the 2010 and 2014 fiscal years.
UNM Army ROTC Recruiting Operations Officer Erik Sevigny said that the parameters for Ranger School have changed over the years. Sevigny, a retired Army veteran who graduated from Ranger School in 1990, said that change is inevitable in the Army.
“I think Ranger School is one of those things where if you don’t modify the standards, I don’t care who goes through,” Sevigny said. “I know plenty of men who can’t make it through Ranger School. If the course remains intact, if we don’t adjust the standards or give special treatment to anybody, whether it’s women or men who can’t pass, then who cares?”
Sevigny said that the Army is part of America’s “social fabric,” and that social changes should not impact the standards that all soldiers are held to.
“I’ve been on campus for ten years now and I’ve had a couple female cadets come through our program who would absolutely be phenomenal infantry soldiers,” Sevigny said. “Were they capable of meeting the standard? Absolutely.”
2nd Lt. Ashley Nguyen, a former UNM Army ROTC cadet who is now with the New Mexico Army National Guard, said that the accomplishments of Griest, Haver and Jaster have motivated her in her military career.
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“These women have most certainly inspired me to not hold myself to a lower standard just because I am a female, and to pursue things even if no one has done it before,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said that although the female graduates’ accomplishments have been motivational to women in the military, her own feelings about women in combat roles are mixed.
“The idea of women being physically, mentally strong and being given the opportunity to put boots on the ground is incredibly exciting, don’t get me wrong,” Nguyen said, “but I also feel that combat roles have been successful in the past because women are not a ... factor. We will just have to see how it goes.”
According to the New York Times, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has until Jan. 1 to decide whether to open up all combat-related jobs to women in all U.S. military branches. CNN stated that if the military decides to do so, the U.S. would join at least 16 other industrialized countries that already allow women to serve in combat.
Nguyen said that could open up new opportunities for her in the future.
“These women have shown me not to give up after you fall down, but to keep trying. Who knows, maybe I might follow in their footsteps and attend Army Ranger School,” Nguyen said.
Ryan Lotz is a news reporter with the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Lotz_DailyLobo.
