In recent years, the role of women in combat has grown, as has the awareness of such, especially after the capture of several women in Iraq, notably Jessica Lynch and Shoshanna Johnson. As more and more women clamor for equality, the likelihood of a woman being placed in harms way increases as well. There are many military careers still closed to women today, including the one on which I will focus, the United States Army Rangers. The training standards for such units are incredibly high, the chance of completing such training, only about 50-60% at a maximum, according to a 26 year old Staff Sergeant, who is a Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) Instructor. He is also a 6 year member of the 75th Ranger Regiment. As an RIP instructor, this man has the task of breaking the Ranger Candidates who don’t have the mental and physical capacity to succeed.
              There are many reasons a Ranger Candidate doesn’t succeed. They are tested mentally as well as physically. Many of those quitting do so solely because they can no longer take the abuse, whether physically or mentally. As one 19 year old PFC with 10 months in the Regiment told me, the Ranger Instructors “smoke” the students a lot. Smoking, or blowing smoke, is having students perform physical exercises to the point of muscle failure, yelling, insulting, or pushing verbally. It is often in response to a Ranger Candidates transgressions or failure to achieve what is demanded and expected. Many quit during a smoking, which is fine. The Regiment does not want those who are not mentally tough enough to take the heat. If it’s cold and rainy, the instructors will build a fire to keep warm- one which students are not allowed near. This is difficult to take, mentally.
              Additionally, there is a lot of physical training involved with RIP. This includes the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), the Combat Water Survival Test (CWST), 8 and 12 mile road marches, plus daily PT--Physical Training (minimum physical standards as well as the standards for the CWST are in the handout). Approximately 20% of students get injured, most with stress fractures. They usually continue anyways. Could a woman possibly succeed at the same level of training as a man?
              Let’s look at hypothetical example. RIP at Ft Benning, outside of Columbus GA. It’s a small class this time--only 100 students, 99 males and one female. The female, Joan White, is the first female ever permitted into RIP. The males are wary at best, and choose to ignore her. The instructors, however, focus on her. They don’t want her to succeed, and will try to no end to get her to quit. She made it through day one, barely. Now at 0630 on day two, Joan has already fallen behind at PT. This is unacceptable; if you don’t keep up you’re considered to have quit. Those who quit are pulled fast, before it spreads, like a cancer.
              Struggling with yet another pushup, Joan sees a pair of boots directly in front of her face. A voice growls in her ear, “You're gone, get over to the truck.” Humiliated, Joan stands and heads over to the waiting truck, where she will wait until PT is done. After PT is done, the truck will ferry her and any other quitters, over to Headquarters for out processing. They will determine there where she is to be sent. No one in that class will ever see Joan again.
              Although it may seem that Joan was booted unfairly, for falling behind during PT, it is seen as a sign that one is giving up, or quitting. The way a former Ranger put it to me is that if you want it bad enough, you will keep up.
              In addition to physical differences, there is a question of lifelong sociological conditioning. This topic was brought up more than once, and should be considered. Throughout our lives, we have expectations for each gender role. It is seen in how we dress our children, the toys we give them, and the careers that we encourage them to follow. We dress our daughters up in dresses and do up their hair with ribbons and bows. We buy them dolls, and encourage play consistent with traditional roles, such as playing house. Boys get dressed more casually, and are given guns instead of dolls. Boys are encouraged in sports more than girls are. The differences in the way we view each gender are virtually limitless. It doesn’t end as the children grow older, either. The situations change, and if anything, the gap between the sexes grows wider. It is more acceptable for an 8 year old girl to be a tomboy than it is for an 18 year old girl, for example.
              Let’s look briefly at Joan’s childhood. As the first child, Joan was doted on. Her parents dressed her in pretty pink dresses, gave her Barbie Dolls to play with, and she was discouraged from boisterous behaviour. Should her play get too loud, she was admonished, because “that is not how young ladies should act.” Her brother, however, was dressed in jeans and t-shirts, given toy guns and was encouraged in rough-housing, because “that is how boys learn to become men.” Sociologically, the stage for different life styles is already set.
              Another area, which we can tie to sociology, is a seemingly innate drive within men. It is the drive to protect women. If a man is hurt in combat, his fellow soldiers can drive on in the mission, to complete the objective. If a woman is hurt, however, the instinctual reaction is to aide the fallen female, the “damsel in distress” if you will. To illustrate this, one Ranger mentioned an incident that occurred while he was at Ft. Bragg, NC. A female truck driver asked to accompany some of the soldiers on a run. During the run, she fell and twisted her ankle. Instead of yelling at her to get back into formation (as they would have had she been male) the entire platoon hovered around her, asking if she was all right. And while the Rangers have written into their creed that they will never leave a fallen comrade behind, it is a different sort of belief. I specifically questioned one Ranger, the 26 year old Staff Sergeant, about how the two differ. What he told me is that if someone is fallen, the Rangers will complete the mission, and then get them, once the mission has been completed. To be blunt, he stated, “The mission comes first.”
              In conclusion, I don’t feel that women can make it in the Rangers, nor do I feel it is something we should attempt. There are too many differences, physically, mentally, and sociologically, between the sexes for there to ever be true equality. Will we ever see a time when women are given the same opportunities as men in the military? Probably not. Can a woman possibly succeed at the same level of training as men? Definitely not. Not, that is, unless the entire sociological make up of the world is changed. As one of the men stated, if we truly are going to make “an honorable attempt at giving women their due, then we have to start at the beginning and treat all humans equally.”