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the U.S. Army Ranger School
Ranger School, Army officials said Thursday, raising the prospect that female
soldiers could graduate from the elite course for the first time ever.
The women made it through Ranger Assessment Phase, commonly known as “RAP
Week,” along with 184 men, said officials at Fort Benning, Ga., where Ranger
School is held. About 40 percent of students have historically made it through the
phase, which includes everything from chin-ups and push-ups to an exhausting 12-
mile road march and a water survival test that calls for climbing along a rope that is
suspended over water.
Pentagon assesses which new combat assignments it should allow women to hold.
Army officials said 381 men and 19 women started on Day 1, meaning 48.3 percent
of men and 42.1 percent of women made it through RAP Week. Both are within
historic norms for Ranger School, Army officials said.
RAP Week is seen as the largest hurdle by many to graduating the 62-day Ranger
School course. About 75 percent of the students who make it through eventually go
on to graduate, Ranger School officials said. It can take months, however: Students
can fail individual portions of the the course multiple times, and get “recycled” into a
later group.
tab, but not permitted to served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, the elite force that
performs raids and other special operations. But Ranger School graduates have
long served in other parts of the Army, and are considered among the service’s best
soldiers.
