Test run suggests women can meet Ranger standards

WASHINGTON — The results of a first-time experiment to expose a group of women to training similar to Ranger School suggests some can meet the standards of the Army's legendary course, which has barred female trainees for more than six decades.

Several dozen female volunteers completed training earlier this month similar to what Rangers would go through in their first week at the two-month school.

"I came away with the idea that there are women out there across the Army that can meet the standards in Ranger School," said Col. David Fivecoat, commander of the airborne and Ranger training brigade at Fort Benning, Ga.

Opening Ranger School to female trainees would be a milestone in the Pentagon's efforts to remove barriers to women in the military. A final decision on allowing women entry into the school is expected in January, the Army said. If allowed, the first class including women would then start in the spring.

Still, it's difficult to draw broad conclusions from the limited training for women, which was not strictly a test. The training was designed to select a group of women to serve as advisers and observers to support female trainees if the school were to allow them entry, the Army said.

But selecting the female advisers also gave officers a chance to see how women would perform during the first week of the course, when the most dropouts occur.

Attrition in the first week of training for men in Ranger School is usually about 45%, Fivecoat said. Overall attrition for the entire two-month course is typically 55%.

Forty-six female officers and non-commissioned officers volunteered to become advisers at the school, and 31 were offered positions after the training. The women did not have to pass all events in order to be selected.

As part of the first week of the course, Rangers are required to complete a 5-mile run in 40 minutes or less and a 12-mile hike in no more than three hours. Students also have to negotiate an obstacle course and later conduct long patrols on little to no sleep. It is considered the most difficult training in the Army.

The Army won't change standards if the school is opened to women, said Brig. Gen. James Rainey, commandant of the infantry school.

Women have served in combat for years, but have been barred from many so-called ground combat occupations, such as the infantry, artillery and tanks. Last year, the Pentagon ordered all jobs to be open to women by 2016. For any occupations to remain closed, a waiver would be required.

Women serve aboard ships and fly aircraft. But the Marine Corps and Army have further to go in integrating women, since many of their jobs involve ground combat.

Since 2012, 24 women have entered the Marine Corps' Infantry Officer Course at Quantico, Va., but none have yet completed it.

The Ranger School, which opened in 1952, trains soldiers in infantry-related skills, but is open to other occupations. Completion of the course helps officers and non-commissioned officers receive promotions. "It sets folks apart from their peers," Fivecoat said.

Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, said the latest effort to recruit female advisers doesn't go far enough because it doesn't allow women immediate access to the school.

"It sounds like a step forward but it's not," she said.