No female army ranger trainees advance in first class to include women

Jessica Glenza in New York
Monday 1 June 2015 22.54 BST

The first class of US army ranger trainees to include women will move on without any of its female members after none of the 19 women in a class of 400 succeeded in passing to the second phase of training.

The army allowed women to apply to the historically all-male course for the first time last year, expecting up to 80 recruits. The course opening is part of a push to include women in combat roles, but the unsuccessful training has some questioning the course’s standards.

Three women will be given the chance to start the entire training from the beginning, known as a Day One Recycle. This is a normal part of the course for students who “struggle with one aspect of the course and excel at others,” the army said in a statement. Five more who passed initial physical tests but failed the ensuing Darby Phase will return to the army as soldiers.

“The group that was unsuccessful was, of course, disappointed in their performance,” said Colonel David G Fivecoat, commander of the ranger training brigade. Fivecoat said that recruits who didn’t make the cut “learned more about themselves [and] leadership”, and move back to the army better trained.

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