I never thought that I would write a post like this, but this is getting absolutely ridiculous and I just can’t help myself.

With the recent reports coming out of Washington that women will be trained as Army Rangers and Navy Seals as early as 2016, there are valid and ridiculous views being stated all over social media networks.

There have been write-ups on virtually every aspect of why or why not women should be allowed in special operations, let alone infantry units. I’m not here to argue every conceivable point and say ‘this or that’ are the reasons women should stay where they are in the military.

This is a political game, nothing more and nothing less. Women want forward mobility. Okay, I get that, but in all reality do you really want to serve with a group of men that believe you were handed a free pass without having to pass the same standards? The truth is that, whether or not the standards remain the same, there will always be those who believe that you don’t deserve to be there. Why would you want to serve in a place where you are looked down upon? There may be an explanation for this and I would love to hear a well thought out argument.

Please leave your knee jerk reactions to yourself.

Standards, standards, standards. I believe that Jack Murphy said it best, “All units have standards, it’s just that Ranger Battalion actually enforces theirs.” Trying to figure out what I mean? Ask someone you know from a ‘Big Army Unit’ and see how many people they know who have DUIs, pissed hot for controlled substances, or been arrested and are still in their current unit? I would wager that the number is higher than you think.

These standards do not only apply to legal issues, but to training and physical standards as well. I read one comment where a woman argued about the physical standards of the APFT declining as soldiers increase in age. Yes, that is true, the Army does scale the APFT by age for both men and women. Not in Ranger Battalion and not in Ranger School. All candidates for Ranger School and members of the 75th Ranger Regiment must pass the APFT under the 17-21 age category. Thats the standard.

In the 75th all Rangers must pass the RPAT in less that one-hour. It doesn’t matter if you are 17 or 45, that’s the standard.