Posted on Jul 12, 2015
SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
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The three remaining women attending Army Ranger School as part of an assessment of how female soldiers should be more fully integrated into the service have passed a major hurdle, completing the first of three segments in the course and moving on to its Mountain Phase.

Army officials announced the result Friday, saying in a news release that 158 men and all three women will move on to tackle the next portion of Ranger School at Camp Merrill in Dahlonega, Ga., about 65 miles north of Atlanta, beginning Saturday. It was the third and final attempt for the remaining women, who had failed the initial Darby Phase at Fort Benning, Ga., twice before. A total of 362 men began the course with them June 21.

[At Army Ranger School, admiration — and frustration — in assessment of women]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/07/10/remaining-women-at-army-ranger-school-clear-major-hurdle-make-it-to-mountain-phase
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LTC Instructor
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Get some blueberry pancakes!
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
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What is that supposed to mean?
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LTC Instructor
LTC (Join to see)
9 y
SGT (Join to see), Camp Merrill is known, even legendary, for the breakfast they serve while Ranger candidates are in garrison between patrolling phases.

The breakfast is huge, including the famous blueberry pancakes. You are not given enough time to eat at the table, so you have to eat while you're still in line getting food, and while you are waiting in line to throw your trash away. I remember eating butter right off the wax paper. You have to have your eating down to a science. But after the first week of patrolling, when the platoon comes in for retraining, your stomach has probably shrunk so much that you can barely eat half of what you could before you took a walk.

In addition to breakfast, I undoubtedly learned the most in Mountains. Now ask me if I'd go back...
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CPT George Lee
CPT George Lee
9 y
Yes, they are legendary!
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LTC(P) Police Officer
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Mountains are tough, worst phase in my opinion for physical challenges
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
SGT (Join to see)
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LTC(P) (Join to see), It's the going up part that's a killer.
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LTC(P) Police Officer
LTC(P) (Join to see)
9 y
I remember climbing up a hill and I thought my heart was going to burst it was beating so hard, then someone stepped on a hornets nest and I got stung 12 times and then it rained
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CPT George Lee
CPT George Lee
9 y
If they can make it through mountains, they've got a shot. It's the toughest physically and it's when your body starts burning muscle, b/c you have no more fat to burn. You get that rancid odor from it.
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COL Charles Williams
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Edited 9 y ago
As I have said before.... I am glad I was never recycled... I am not sure what I would have done... one time was hard enough. They still have two tough phases, the graded SGT (Join to see)...

This is funny... and absurd... who else is going to grade them??? Should we have added some female cadre from where? I thought that is why we had those observers??? No gave a crap when the RIs treated me like shit...

Sources familiar with the assessment told The Washington Post last month that some of the female students were shocked and frustrated when they learned they did not pass the Darby Phase. Most, if not all, of those women were dropped based on how they did while leading foot patrols through the wooded hills of Fort Benning. That raised questions with some critics about whether the women were being graded by the all-male cadre of Ranger instructors.

Army officials have defended the grading process, and attributed the previous failure of women to get through the Darby Phase to inexperience with patrolling.
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COL Charles Williams
COL Charles Williams
9 y
SGT (Join to see) - I remember... In the mountains, first realizing the contour intervals mattered...
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
SGT (Join to see)
9 y
COL Charles Williams, Sir, I really hope for the sake of these brave women, they can beat the odds. It's been a slippery slope for them from the get go. When they make it, I hope they gain some real honorable recognition. They are pioneers like the women before them.
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CPT Battalion Training Officer
CPT (Join to see)
9 y
I was dropped twice and recycled once before finally graduating. The observers watched our classes to ensure continuity between all male and integrated classes. I had the opportunity to go to Airborne school with one of the observers and she told me there was no difference in grading or anything. The ladies simply just struggled in leadership positions. It should be interesting to see how they fair in mountains because the patrols are longer and harder. Less sleep and chow time is practically both meals within an hour or two of each other. As an RI told me in Mountains "these mountains will suck your soul". Should be interesting to see.
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COL Charles Williams
COL Charles Williams
9 y
CPT (Join to see) - Thanks, and congratulations!!! Yes, those mountains will suck your soul. I can remember in August watching a dude having heat exhaustion, near stroke in the mountains. I also gained an appreciation for counter intervals...
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