The social experiment continues, part of the no boots on the ground strategy.
After 32 rejections, Lt. Della Smith-Del Rosario might finally get permission to attend the Army’s grueling Ranger School.
She’s been trying to get into the school – one of the military’s most intense proving grounds – for years, but she’s been blocked by a policy barring women from attending the two-month Ranger training course at Georgia’s Fort Benning.
Friday, the Army announced that it’s seeking female candidates for the spring 2015 Ranger School course. By January, the Army will announce whether it will admit female soldiers to the program.[…]
Most often, critics voice concerns that female troops will not be able to meet the physical demands of prolonged combat with Special Forces teams. The most physically demanding military training course open to women is the Marine Infantry Officer Candidate School. As of March, 14 women had attempted the course since the fall of 2012, but none had passed, according to The Washington Post.
“In my opinion, it is a waste of time and my money to send women to Ranger School,” said LeRoy Graw, a retired lieutenant colonel who served during the Gulf War. Graw of Lakewood completed Ranger School in 1964 after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy. He does not believe the Army should commission women as infantry officers, and so he thinks Ranger School would be a waste of the Army’s resources.