It’s one of the toughest military selection tests anywhere in the world.
Okay, it’s probably not a patch on the British SAS, but it looks pretty hellish all the same.
Now two women soldiers have become the first in history to successfully complete the US Army’s Elite Ranger School where, according to NBC News, “only the strongest, fastest and smartest soliders make the grade.”
Out of 400 soldiers (19 of them women) the two unnamed female officers went through s**t and hell to complete it.
It starts with a pretty hardcore fitness test: a five-mile run in 40 minutes, a 12-mile march in three hours, 49 push-ups, 59 sit-ups and six pull-ups in two minutes each.
1 in 3 soldiers fail, but those who pass that initial test then train in three phases over 62 days – the woods, the mountains and the swamp.
To earn the Ranger tab they must also go through a swimming test, a land navigation test, several obstacle courses, four days of military mountaineering, three parachute jumps, four air assaults on helicopters, multiple rubber boat movements and 27 days of mock combat patrols.
It sounds delightful.
