First female Aggie graduated from Ranger School yesterday

5,544 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by Presley OBannons Sword
Trinity Ag
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S
I think she is #14 in the Army so far.

2LT Kathryn Nolen, IN, '17

Congratulations to 2LT Nolen!
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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DevilD77
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AG
A big Old Army "WHOOP!" for 2LT Nolen.

Gig 'Em!
GI Joe
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The very first female to graduate, one of the 2 who made it at the same time, had attended a recruiting program with the Corps but ended up going to West Point. Her boyfriend was the Rudder's Rangers Commander. Nolen started out in B-1, Battlers!
Presley OBannons Sword
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and i'm sure no standards were changed / glossed-over nor was any special treatment given.
Trinity Ag
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Presley OBannons Sword said:

and i'm sure no standards were changed / glossed-over nor was any special treatment given.
Everyone I have spoken to that has been involved has insisted that the standards have not changed.

You can't pencil whip a 90- lb ruck over the mountains in Dahlonega.
X-43
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lcraggie
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AG
I had four phases when I graduated Ranger School in 1992. The course has changed to now only having three phases. I hope the standards have not changed, but I know I entered Ranger School at 170 pounds and left at a 143 pounds. It was very physically demanding for me, and I know first hand you can pencil whip items depending on who you are in Ranger School. We had a Division Commander's son in my class and he did not carry the same amount of weight in his ruck along the TVD. The Army has changed and I no longer am a part of it. All the best to the 2LT Nolen.
Rangers Lead the Way, NSDQ


Trinity Ag
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lcraggie said:

I had four phases when I graduated Ranger School in 1992. The course has changed to now only having three phases. I hope the standards have not changed, but I know I entered Ranger School at 170 pounds and left at a 143 pounds. It was very physically demanding for me, and I know first hand you can pencil whip items depending on who you are in Ranger School. We had a Division Commander's son in my class and he did not carry the same amount of weight in his ruck along the TVD. The Army has changed and I no longer am a part of it. All the best to the 2LT Nolen.
Tons of GO kids go through Ranger school, and not all of them make it. I could see where a GO kid might get preference on patrol grades (Lord know the International students did), or even if they get a pass on peer evals (moved instead of recycled/booted)

I graduated in '92, and I personally don't see how you can "pencil whip" your packing list. The layouts happen in public, with the students and RIs together.

Apart from your personal packing list, the RI's don't determine who carries what. If the Div CDRs kid refused to carry special equipment, machine gun ammo, the radio, spare batteries, etc -- then that is on the squad. If he was shirking, he should have gotten peered out. The squads I was in sure would have peered him. But maybe they did, and he just got shuffled around.

There are three phases instead of four, but they are each longer. Everyone also gets fed more in the field -- which is a good thing, IMO. I got down to 126 lbs, and it jacked me up physically for a long time. I think that changed following the investigation when four Soldiers died of hypothermia in Florida in '95.
lcraggie
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Trinity-- you are correct on many aspects, but when one person never once carries the M-60, baseplate, AT-4 or extra ammo it does not distribute the weight evenly. He got low peers, but graduated with his TAB. He had patrols of setting up an linear ambush, establishing an ORP and a river movement those are given out by the RI's. Not the most difficult tasks. I am not going to argue about what I saw and experienced when I attended. I am sure each person has their own account of Ranger School. I appreciate your service and will buy you a beer to compare war stories. I am sure we might know some of the same people. Gig 'Em
Rangers Lead the Way, NSDQ


Trinity Ag
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lcraggie said:

Trinity-- you are correct on many aspects, but when one person never once carries the M-60, baseplate, AT-4 or extra ammo it does not distribute the weight evenly. He got low peers, but graduated with his TAB. He had patrols of setting up an linear ambush, establishing an ORP and a river movement those are given out by the RI's. Not the most difficult tasks. I am not going to argue about what I saw and experienced when I attended. I am sure each person has their own account of Ranger School. I appreciate your service and will buy you a beer to compare war stories. I am sure we might know some of the same people. Gig 'Em
I'm agreeing with you -- I just don't know why he didn't get peered if he willfully refused to carry his weight.

Sounds like he was lucky his squad didn't rough him up.
Presley OBannons Sword
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You can pencil whip anything. Completing a fifteen mile hump and a double o-course are (or used to be at least) physical requirements to graduate from the Basic School in Quantico. I know female officers who were simply never required to complete them bc they couldn't.
APHIS AG
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I strongly suspect that the standards were lowered for Ranger school for what I heard is that the first two that graduated were allowed to retake some of the exercises while the men were one and out.


Just recently, the Marines finally graduated its first woman infantry officer to pass its Infantry basic course. Of course, for her to pass, the marines had to lower the standard.

www.military.com/daily-news/2018/02/11/marine-corps-quietly-drops-major-obstacle-female-infantry-officers.html
AGHouston11
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AG
So all testing standards are not equal?
If not isn't this a safety risk for the sake of inclusion?
Prince_Ahmed
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APHIS AG said:

I strongly suspect that the standards were lowered for Ranger school for what I heard is that the first two that graduated were allowed to retake some of the exercises while the men were one and out.
Did you also hear that 34% of all soldiers who go on to earn their Ranger tab repeat phases of the program, and an average of 15 repeat every single phase every year (prior to women being allowed to try)?
Prince_Ahmed
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lcraggie said:

I had four phases when I graduated Ranger School in 1992. The course has changed to now only having three phases.
In the 65+ year history of Ranger School, Desert Phase was only part of it for 12 years (1983 - 1995). With all respect, I don't think Desert Phase is what makes one Ranger qualified.
Trinity Ag
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I went through when there was desert phase (FT Bliss), and did mountains twice. We also got one MRE a day in the field back then -- which was about 50 of the 70 days.

One meal a day was supposed to make you "lean & mean". My metabolism was jacked up for over a year, and I had recurring pneumonia for years after. The quasi-starvation was stupid, and damaging. I think they stopped that in the aftermath of the '94 Florida hypothermia deaths.

Change is not always bad.
Presley OBannons Sword
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AGHouston11 said:

So all testing standards are not equal?
If not isn't this a safety risk for the sake of inclusion?

Standards are not all equal. Not by a long shot.
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