A congressman from Ohio, who also happens to be a Ranger graduate, wants Army Secretary John McHugh to release documents detailing the performance of women at Ranger School.
Documents requested include information on test scores, injuries, evaluations and more, PEOPLE reports.
GOP Rep. [crscore]Steve Russell[/crscore] is reportedly concerned because sources from Fort Benning have started claiming that female candidates received special treatment during the course. The Army has categorically denied unequal treatment from the beginning. The only ground ceded is that the number of recycles allowed for the female students is rare, but not unprecedented.
Russell intends to find out who’s telling the truth. His search was motivated by several Ranger instructors informing his office of specific examples, in which females were given special treatment. That treatment includes women carrying less equipment than men, meaning that they also didn’t have to take turns carrying heavy machine guns. The women also had access to rigorous pre-training before the course started, something none of the men were lucky enough to receive.
But as usual, the Army continues to deny anything out of the ordinary.
” … There was no pressure from anyone to lower any standards – the standards remained the same and the Soldiers that graduated with their Ranger tabs on August 21, 2015 in Ranger Class 8-15 accomplished the very same demanding standards of Ranger School as previous classes,” the Army’s Lt. Col. Garrett told PEOPLE.
Other Ranger students have come forward to try and make quick work of the idea that females were given an unfair advantage.
“In Darby, the female students in our company dispelled any doubts of their ability to hump weight on patrols during the first few days in the field,” Rudy Mac, a graduate of Ranger School, wrote for SOFREP. “If I remember correctly, Ranger Griest carried the M240 for her squad on day one of patrols and another female in her squad carried the radio as the RTO. The next day of patrols, they switched, with Ranger Griest humping the radio and the other female student carrying the M240. Physically, they were studs. They carried their own weight and then some.”
Sources claim one thing, and the Army another, which is why Russell wants to examine the documents for himself.
Russell sent the letter to the Pentagon on Sept. 15 and wants a response by Sept. 25. He’s not the only one interested. Others in Congress are paying close attention to see the results of his investigation. Several are not pleased with the way the services have handled the prospect of integration.
GOP Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently blasted Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for completely ignoring the findings of a study which showed that men outperformed women on 69 percent of combat tasks. (RELATED: McCain To Mabus: Why Bother Having A Study On Combat Gender Integration If You’re Going To Ignore The Results?)
The Army, Navy and Air Force do not intend to submit exemptions by Oct. 1 to request that some combat roles remain male-only, but the Marine Corps is gearing up for a fight with Navy leadership over a decision to submit. (RELATED: Marine Corps Officials To Defy NavySec With Plan To Keep Combat Roles Male-Only)
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