Two female 3rd Brigade soldiers ready to accept Ranger challenge - Killeen Daily Herald
The 62-day Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga. , challenges service members of all occupational specialties, but primarily infantrymen, through three phases with scenarios and tasks meant to induce hunger, mental and physical fatigue and emotional... Phase one is at Benning, with about 60 percent of students failing in the first four days, according to the school’s website. Those days include the Ranger fitness test, requiring 49 pushups, 59 situps, a 5-mile run in 40 minutes or less and six chin-ups. Soldiers also undergo land navigation, water survival and common skills tests, among many other tasks. The second phase is the Mountain Phase in the North Georgia Mountains. The third Florida-based Swamp phase, at Eglin Air Force Base, focuses on combat arms functional skills. It also requires the execution of raids, ambushes, movements to contact, and urban assaults to accomplish their assigned missions, on top of many water-based movements. “It’s never been a dream of mine, but I never thought it was possible,” Armstrong said. “I wouldn’t have these things if some females hadn’t stepped up to the plate before me. “Any female captain should volunteer if they are capable and say, ‘thank you,’ and show this wasn’t for nothing,” she said. Source: kdhnews.com
