La Escuela de Rangers est\u00e1 dise\u00f1ada para\u00a0llevar a los soldados\u00a0al l\u00edmite. Exige un rendimiento m\u00e1ximo con falta de sue\u00f1o y hambre. Una prueba de nataci\u00f3n con uniforme completo. Una carrera de ocho kil\u00f3metros en no m\u00e1s de 40 minutos. Una marcha a pie de 19 kil\u00f3metros con una mochila de 16 kilos. Y eso es solo la fase preliminar.\u00a0\u00a0Las mujeres soldados se enfurecen por la revisi\u00f3n de los roles de combate del Pent\u00e1gono. El Pent\u00e1gono, en una declaraci\u00f3n a Military Times, afirm\u00f3 que el estudio busca garantizar que las fuerzas armadas puedan cumplir con las exigencias m\u00e1s rigurosas. El comunicado a\u00f1adi\u00f3 que el secretario de Defensa, Pete Hegseth, \u00abno comprometer los est\u00e1ndares para cumplir con cuotas o una agenda ideol\u00f3gica; eso es sentido com\u00fan\u00bb.<\/p>\n
This much we know:\u00a0at least 154 women have earned the vaunted black-and-gold Ranger tab<\/a>, according to U.S. Army data from early 2025.<\/p>\n Ranger School is designed to\u00a0push soldiers<\/a>\u00a0to their limits. It demands peak performance while sleep deprived and hungry. A swim test conducted in full uniform. A five-mile run in no more than 40 minutes. A 12-mile foot march lugging a 35-pound rucksack. And that\u2019s just the preliminary phase.<\/p>\n For much of its history, it stood as the Army\u2019s most grueling test of physical and mental prowess \u2014 reserved exclusively for men.<\/p>\n That changed in 2015 when the Department of Defense opened Ranger School,\u00a0and all combat jobs<\/a>, to women. The decision was the catalyst for\u00a0<\/b>a groundbreaking transformation of the American military.<\/p>\n Now, more than a decade later, the Pentagon has\u00a0launched a formal review of the\u00a0<\/b>\u201ceffectiveness\u201d<\/a>\u00a0of the shift, resurrecting a debate many service women thought had been settled years ago.<\/p>\n The Pentagon, in a statement to Military Times, said the study is intended to ensure the military can meet the most rigorous demands. The statement added that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth \u201cwill not compromise standards to satisfy quotas or an ideological agenda \u2013 that is common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n But critics contend women have already proven they can successfully fill elite combat roles, pointing to the 4,594 female soldiers who are currently deployed in the Army\u2019s conventional combat units \u2014 a count based on data independently collected by Women in the Service Coalition. The Pentagon declined to comment on the numbers.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a bigger and more visceral issue, too. Women suspect the review has been launched merely to buttress a predetermined conclusion:\u00a0that they do not belong in the infantry<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only reason to conduct a new study is if you want a different outcome and you\u2019re prepared to skew whatever answers you get to achieve that outcome,\u201d said Sue Fulton, executive director of Women in the Service Coalition, in an interview with Military Times. \u201cWe have every reason to believe the intent is to marginalize women because Hegseth has said so in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth, before assuming his role as defense secretary, was an outspoken critic of allowing female service members to serve in frontline combat roles.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,\u201d\u00a0he said in a podcast appearance in November 2024<\/a>, citing a Marine Corps report that found all-male units outperformed mixed gender ones during a 2015 infantry integration test. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t made us more effective. Hasn\u2019t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n A\u00a0study released five years later<\/a>\u00a0determined that the Marine Corps remained an outlier compared to other branches, with women representing the smallest share of its forces.<\/p>\n Hegseth\u00a0<\/b>walked back his stance during his confirmation hearing, insisting to lawmakers, \u201cif we have the right standard and women meet that standard, roger, let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth set alarm bells ringing again among some female troops last September, however. In a high-profile, fiery speech at Quantico, Virginia, he said that \u201cevery requirement\u201d for combat troops would revert to\u00a0\u201cthe highest male standard only.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Two women who graduated from Ranger School and served in combat \u2014 both of whom requested that their last names be withheld out of fear of repercussion for speaking out \u2014 told Military Times the review stands in contrast with the meritocratic ethos the institution prides itself on.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a slap in the face to all the accomplishments of the women who have been in the infantry, have been in combat arms and have contributed at such a high level,\u201d Emily said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe message feels very clear: According to leadership, the women in combat arms achieved their success because the standards were lowered for them. But the standards were never lowered for us. I took the same physical fitness test as the men at Ranger School. We earned our spots,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n