One out of 129; she who actually made it

This archived article was written by: Christopher Palo

Recently women were allowed to attend U.S. Army Ranger School. This is a very controversial idea because it’s a new concept and woman do not have the muscular skeletal system of a man. But lets be honest, if you can physically and mentally do the job, then you should be allowed too. If a woman can meet the same standards as a man, then they should be allowed to attend the school.
Out of the 129 female candidates that attempted ranger school for the first time, one passed with the same standards as a man. But wait, there was a lot of uproar saying that it was unfair for a woman to have to meet the same standards as a man because biologically men and woman are built differently. With those failure rates at hand, a command from high up the military and government food chain, some say as high as the secretary of state, sent down a statement saying that no woman was to fail in the first class of ranger school.
Out of 129 women that attended, only one passed; that’s not too bad for ranger school. According to the officials at Fort Benning, home of two of the three phases of ranger school and the 75th Ranger Brigade Headquarters, 60 percent of all candidates fail. This course was designed to make people fail.
Woman have weaker muscular skeletal systems than men, so a lot of the tasks they will just not be able to do without dangerously extensive training and preparation.
Yes, only one woman passed the course but, by complaining about it to higher echelons in the military, these other woman who just couldn’t cut it have taken away the fact that one did.
One female had enough heart and strength and endurance to pull from the deepest core of her being and say, “I will not give up. I will die trying.” The other women have taken that away from her. They have taken all the hard work and sacrifice this would have endured and made it for naught. Now no one will know that she actually made it through because all of the females were allowed to pass just because they are females.
These females claimed that it was unfair they had to achieve the same standards as a man, that their bodies weren’t built the same. This is a true statement, but they knew going into the school that they would have to achieve the same standards.
Out in a combat zone, the enemy doesn’t care that you have a different set of chromosomes. They don’t care that you, “tried your best.” Neither does the person standing next to you, wearing 200 pounds of gear, putting his total weight over 400 pounds. If he’s shot in the back, he will expect you to carry him out and, “I’m a female” will not be a viable excuse when he dies.
A ranger tab is a 50-cent piece of cloth that holds the weight of generations upon it. It is a mark of honor, commitment, personal courage, sacrifice and selflessness. The bearer of this standard is a member of an elite group of people who do not know the word quit. They do not understand give-up.
The first line of the ranger creed says, “Recognizing that I have volunteered as a ranger I am fully aware of the hazards of my chosen profession.” This is a creed everyone associated with the rangers must learn and live by. Even those in pre-ranger school have to memorize this creed. Repeating it over and over and committing it to memory make it so there are no excuses like, “I didn’t know.”
These few women complained, knowing this creed, and went to sympathetic ears who care more about fair play than what’s actually good for the military and country. These women were just given the tab; something given has no value. Now this one woman who actually passed and could possibly be the start to a great change and acceptance of woman in special operations is lumped in with the women who didn’t actually earn the tab, but who wear it to look good and claim they earned it.
This one woman is now lost in a sea of scam artists and there is no hope of getting out. This poor ranger, which she deserves to be called because she earned it, will probably never get the respect she earned because these other woman have made it so that no respect will be given to a women with a ranger tab. As far as the general military knows, none of them earned it.
This goes to show that forced fairness and political correctness are not only a terrible idea, but also a hindrance to progress. If those 128 women had decided to not give up, but instead to say okay, I know what I need to do, work on themselves and go back, then they would be respected and honored as a member of the ranger family. Since they basically complained their way into a tab, they will receive no more respect than a civilian that wears a military uniform on Veteran’s Day to pick up women.
The ranger community will probably be torn apart by this poor-decision making. A tradition and family dating back to Rogers Rangers will be tossed to the side just because someone said it wasn’t fair.