Female Rangers: Changing Perceptions

Best Ranger Changed Mind About Female Students

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Ranger Instructors SFC Jeremy Lemma, at left, talks with SFC Joshua Sullivan.
Photo credit: Mike Haskey[/caption]There are very few military people or veterans who do not have a strong opinion about the Army's decision to allow female students to enter Ranger School. People either fully support the plan (as long as standards aren't changed) or people hate the plan and say that even if the Army says standards won't change, that females will somehow be coddled through because of politics rather than technical and tactical proficiency.Ranger Instructor and 2015 Best Ranger SFC Jeremy Lemma recently discussed his experiences with the female students and how seeing first hand their performance helped him change his mind. From the Ledger-Enquirer:EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- When word spread throughout the U.S. Army that its toughest training school was going to be open to women, Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Lemma admits he and many of his Ranger brethren felt the same way.And Lemma is not just any Ranger. A Ranger instructor, he and his Ranger buddy Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Briggs won the Best Ranger competition at Fort Benning in April, marking them as the best of the best.

"It is not just other guys -- it's me," Lemma said Thursday at Camp Rudder in the Florida swamps, as two women work their way through the final phase of Ranger School. "I questioned it, too. I questioned the process as well. How wouldn't you? Years of Ranger School going back to the 1950s, and we are finally getting females through."If you are a male and you are tabbed, you are probably going to question it. A lot of guys, with politics, you have to say the right thing. The bottom line is almost every guy questions it."Read the rest at the Ledger-Enquirer.[mwi-cat-listing cat="94" ppp="4" cols="4" desc="false" type="view" btn_color="black" ]