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The US Navy Seals plan to allow women into their teams, an admiral says, days after the army announced that two soldiers would be the first women to graduate from the elite and gruelling Army Ranger School.
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That they will wear the ranger tab but return to their original units has upset some observers.
“It’s ridiculous,” Ellen Haring, a retired army colonel and senior fellow of Women in International Security, said. “I think the ban is going to fall. Only 3% of the army qualifies as a ranger – why in the world would they continue to ban a demographic that is going to add to that pool?”
Haring noted that women have served in combat operations for years, including with the rangers. Since 2010 more than 200 women have trained and embedded with ranger teams in Afghanistan. Two women, First Lieutenant Ashley White and First Lieutenant Jennifer Moreno, were killed during night raids with rangers there.
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Haring, another West Point alumnus, said that integration “is kind of a bittersweet thing” for her and the dozens of other female alumni who will celebrate the women’s achievement.
“For so long people said ‘women simply can’t do this, therefore we’re not going to allow you to try,’” Haring said. “You were in kind of a catch-22. So it’s so exciting for these two women, but wow, look at all the other women who could’ve been great combat soldiers.”
Note: these excerpts are taken from a longer article on the topic, which can be found on The Guardian Online.
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