One female recruit summed it up by saying simply, “Hey, the infantry’s tough, man.”
“Is it fair?” said the brigade commander overseeing gender-integrated infantry training at Fort Benning, Col. Kelly Kendrick.
“We saw it can work,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, who heads Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. “And now we have a generation
that just wants to accomplish the mission and have the most talented people to do it.”
The Army is determined not to sacrifice performance for the sake of inclusion, and many women have not been able to meet the standard.
The Army has also sought to play down the significance of the new female infantrymen — as they are still known — not mentioning, when families gathered last week for their graduation,
that the 18 women who made it through would be the first in more than two centuries for the American infantry.
By DAVE PHILIPPSMAY 26, 2017
FORT BENNING, Ga. — The first group of women graduated from United States Army infantry training last week,
but with soldiers obscured by body armor, camouflage face paint and smoke grenades, it was almost impossible to distinguish the mixed-gender squads in the steamy woods from those of earlier generations.
“It’s business as usual,” the battalion commander overseeing the first class, Lt. Col. Sam Edwards, said
as he watched a squad of soldiers run past — including one with French braids and a grenade launcher.
Still smarting over accusations that it had lowered standards to help the first women graduate from its elite
Ranger School in 2015, the Army has taken pains to avoid making any exceptions for infantry boot camp.
