Posted on 06/17/2013 3:18:27 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Pentagon is planning to open the ranks of the Navy SEALs, the Army's elite Ranger units and other specialized combat outfits to female soldiers for the first time, according to reports.
The first opportunity female soliders will have to join the military's elite combat units will be with the Navy, according to Pentagon plans outlining the transition, obtained by the Associated Press on Monday.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel could officially announce plans to expand access to those units as soon as Tuesday, according to the AP.
Hagel's pending announcement builds upon former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta's decision in January to end the military's long standing ban on women in combat.
The time lines set by the Department of Defense (DOD) to open Ranger and SEAL units up to female soldiers and sailors are still being reviewed by senior military leaders.
Navy officials will open up the service's Riverine Forces to eligible female candidates, beginning next month, the Pentagon plan states.
Women sailors who fit the service criteria will be able to enroll in the Riverine Combat Skills course, a rigorous 33-day program designed to teach "basic expeditionary combat training necessary to ... perform high risk operations when assigned to Navy Riverine Force Organizations," according to a service website.
Next up will be the Army, whose leaders plan to open up the service's Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga. to female candidates beginning in 2015.
The service's vaunted Ranger regiments specialize in small-unit combat tactics, airborne assault operations and are seen as the main entryway into Army Special Forces.
Service leaders expect to have new training and qualification requirements for female Ranger candidates by July 2015, the AP reports.
A year later, according to the Pentagon's plans, women sailors will be able to participate in the Navy's Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training program at the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, Calif.
BUD/S is seen as one of the most intense training programs in the U.S. military, with roughly 70 percent of SEAL candidates failing to complete the program.
SEAL teams are responsible for some of the most sensitive counter terrorism and combat operations conducted by American armed forces.
Members of the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team Six, conducted the May 2011 raid in Abottabad, Pakistan that ended with the death of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
While allowing female soldiers and sailors the opportunity to join Ranger or SEAL teams is major milestone for the Pentagon, female soldiers have already begun to play a key role in U.S. special operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
All-women units, known as Female Engagement Teams, already work alongside American regular and special forces units to train and equip U.S.-backed local militias in Afghanistan.
Female soldiers and officers have also risen through the intelligence and personnel fields within Special Operations Command and the command's service components.
But with special operations forces set to grow, in both size and operational tempo, the opportunities for women within the command to take part in operations worldwide will only increase.
Those opportunities will likely fall under "indirect action" missions, such as long-term training and advising efforts with foreign militaries, rather than direct combat-type operations, like the Bin Laden raid.
Well said by you both.
Those specialized combat units are no place for a female. In the interest of "fairness" this PC BS is going to get even more of our men and women in uniform killed.
(shakes head - sigh)
homosexuals lesbians and trasgender to follow
Does anyone ever ask the wives of our warriors what they think about women in their husbands units? What generally happens is the women are given the easy jobs...the shore duty jobs and men get even fewer breaks from heavy duty combat jobs.
What’s the problem? In all the latest movies, women warriors routinely kicks the a$$ of all the men.
"Service leaders expect to have new training and qualification requirements for female Ranger candidates by July 2015, the AP reports."
So in order to make sure women can qualify for these elite fighting units, they are going lower the standards. Would YOU want to be in a combat situation with someone who could only qualify under diminished standards?
Well, perilous and strenuous work makes men really horny and that needs to be accommodated in some sort of controlled manner.
Already there, IMO -- But you should see some of the reactions here on FR if you were to argue the Constitution's two-year limitation on Army funding implies that we should defund the regular army [and let the States handle troops].
Please! I’ve seen plenty of movies and tv shows, women are WAY better at killing bad guys with the efficiency of the average commando than the typical loser guy.
Hollywood doesn’t lie! /sarc
Any women that make it won't look like Demi Moore.
The San Diego Union did a three part front page story a few years ago about how blacks were only about 1.5% of any of the Special Ops units, SEAL, Ranger, Special forces, Air Commandos, across the board, the demands of being so elite seemed to be pretty high, but in that article there was already admissions that the services were looking for ways to work in affirmative action.
The tone of the article was that racism was at work, now we will learn about the sexism of the warrior elite.
obama wants to destroy the military and so do the people in power in the pentagon. If women want to join the SEALS they should have their own teams and leave the men out of this insanity.
I hope these women are worked until they can’t stand up anymore. I just bet the butch lesbians will join and scream discrimination at every turn.
What? They won't have the current training and qualification requirements?
I sure didn't see that coming...
No woman alive can pass Navy Seal training or Ranger training. Most men can’t. Standards WILL BE LOWERED.
Lord I’m glad I am an old man and out of the military now.
The US military has became the laughing stock of the world.
Private Bagel is the perfect dunce to carry on Obamagabe’s destruction of the US military. But you know what I don’t give a damn anymore. This country has gone to hell in a handbasket and it’s not coming back.
Read that back to yourself a few times and then see if it still sounds cute or if it sounds like a guy with woman issues.
wouldn’t matter if they were the same. (bet they won’t be)
they still don’t have to sign up for the draft .
This is ridiculous. The point of Ranger training isn’t to produce a bunch of buff guys. The point is when you are beyond tired after days without sleep or enough food and every muscle in your body aches, can you think clearly, issue the necessary orders and lead your patrol to accomplish the mission?
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