The First Woman Soldier In Green Beret Training Fails to Complete the Course

But she still made it farther than a lot of men did.

Demi Moore GI Jane
Hollywood Pictures

In the 1997 film GI Jane Demi Moore played the first female warrior to join a Navy SEAL-like special operations group. It was an aspirational action film—US women weren’t actually allowed to take combat positions till the beginning of 2016.
Unfortunately, we don’t yet have a real GI Jane—the first woman to enter training to be an elite Army Green Beret has failed out of the course. 

The Washington Times reports that a female enlisted soldier training for the 75th Ranger Regiment was unable to complete the course:

During the land navigation phase of the training, she either withdrew voluntarily, was medically dropped or was administratively removed for not meeting standards, said three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Pending review boards, she may try again.

Those advocating for parity between the sexes on the battlefield—including within special operations units—shouldn’t let this discourage them, though. The conservative Washington paper reports that the unnamed soldier managed to make it further into the first 21 days than up to 15 percent of her male classmates. 

If the same soldier is allowed to apply again and succeeds she’ll then have a two-year long Special Forces Qualification Course to finally become a true Green Beret.

Hopefully she won’t actually be required to rock a shaved dome like Demi did, but hey—whatever it takes.

h/t Washington Times

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