One lawmaker is asking the Army secretary to prove the two women who recently graduated Army Ranger School were not given preferential treatment.
Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., sent a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh this month requesting a series of documents, including the women’s evaluations, by Friday.
“The rigors of combat are unforgiving,” Russell wrote in the letter, first reported by People. “To ensure that the Army retains its ability to defend the nation, we must ensure that our readiness is not sacrificed.”
Russell is a Ranger School graduate who led troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom during his 21-year career as an infantry officer. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.
The congressman asked for patrol grade sheets, spot reports, official and peer evaluations and sick call reports to indicate any injuries the women sustained. He asked for the documentation on the two female graduates, as well as the 17 other women who began the school with them in April.
One of those women is going through the third and final Swamp Phase for the second time. The remaining women were unable to complete the course.
Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to graduate Ranger School in August and earned the right to wear the elite Ranger tab. Their graduation sparked outcry online that the standards had been lessened for them or that instructors had faced political pressure to pass the women.
Maj. Jim Hathaway, one of the top officers overseeing Ranger School, responded to the rumors on Facebook last month, saying that some people could see the training with their own eyes and still not believe the women were held to an equal standard, the Washington Post reported.
“We could have invited each of you to guest walk the entire course, and you would still not believe,” he wrote. “We could have video recorded every patrol and you would still say that we ‘gave’ it away. Nothing we say will change your opinion.”
When asked about what it was like going through the training with women, their male counterparts told reporters ahead of the August graduation that the women offered to carry some of their weight when other men were too exhausted to help.
Russell sent the letter as debate continues over gender integration in the military. By Oct. 1, the military service secretaries must submit recommendations to Defense Secretary Ash Carter on whether any job specialties should remain closed to women. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus sparked controversy this month when he dismissed a Marine Corps study that showed women had a harder time than men in infantry training. Marine Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford, soon to become the Joint Chiefs chairman, is expected to recommend some jobs remain closed to women.
