The Only Woman That was Training to be a NAVY SEAL Just Dropped Out
U.S.
The Only Woman That Was Training to be a Navy SEAL Just Dropped Out
[Time]
Julie Watson / AP
Time•August 13, 2017
The Only Woman That Was Training to be a Navy SEAL Just Dropped Out
(SAN DIEGO) — The only woman in the Navy SEAL training pipeline has dropped out, a Navy special warfare official confirmed Friday.
The female midshipman voluntarily decided to not continue participating in a summer course that’s required of officers who want to be selected for SEAL training, Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton, a Naval special warfare spokesman, told The Associated Press. The Navy has not released the woman’s name, part of a policy against publicly identifying SEALs or candidates for the force.
No other woman has started the long process required to become a Navy SEAL, Walton said.
Another woman has set her sights on becoming a Special Warfare Combatant Crewman, another job that recently opened to women. They often support the SEALs but also conduct missions of their own using state-of-the art, high-performance boats. She has started the various evaluations and standard Navy training.
Officials have said it would be premature to speculate when the Navy will see its first female SEAL or Special Warfare Combatant Crewman.
The entry of women in one of the military’s most elite fighting forces is part of ongoing efforts to comply with then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s directive in December 2015 to open all military jobs to women, including the most dangerous commando posts.
That decision was formal recognition of the thousands of female servicewomen who fought in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in recent years, including those who were killed or wounded.
The woman dropped out of the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection program. It is open to Naval academy and Navy ROTC midshipmen and cadets during the summer before their senior year.
The three-week-long program in Coronado, across the bay from San Diego, tests participants’ physical and psychological strength along with water competency and leadership skills. The program is the first in-person evaluation of a candidate who desires to become a Navy SEAL officer, and it allows sailors to compete against peers in an equitable training environment.
All sailors must go through the program before being selected to take part in SEAL basic training, a six-month program so grueling that 75 percent of candidates drop out by the end of the first month.
The services have been slowly integrating women into previously male-only roles. Those in special operations are among the most demanding jobs in the military. Two women in 2015 graduated from the Army’s grueling Ranger course.
Top reactions:
Dom
Dom
14 hours ago
Kudos to her for giving it a try; and kudos to the SEALS for not lowering the bar simply to allow her to make it.
Ralph
Ralph
16 hours ago
I see many from a certain political & social leaning calling for lowering the standards & calling it equality. Equality is when people can meet the tough standards. When you lower the standards so women can make that is not equality, that is pity. Sometimes those who push the equality issue too far do more discriminating than anybody else.
George
George
17 hours ago
It's no surprise. Are there any women playing with men in college football, baseball, basketball, the nfl, nba, major league, boxing, wrestling, anything requiring upper body strength to fight and survive against men in combat. NO, and never will.
Scott
Scott
15 hours ago
i am not going to bash or belittle this woman. it is a tough program. and i know just how punishing cold water can be. i do find it insulting that so many that have no idea what they put candidates through during this take the time to insult and disparage her when they would not take up the challenge and possibly would not last as long as she did if they did. as long as she gave it everything she had before deciding it was not in her to finish then she has nothing to be ashamed of. many men had tried and dropped out before her and many more will try and drop out after her. as well.
Yahooooo
Yahooooo
15 hours ago
But the liberals will tell you women are the same as men. Nothing special about them.
Al
Al
12 hours ago
Men and women are different and that is as it should be. We each need each other because of those differences. It is like the difference between land and ocean. We need the soil to plant and the water to nourish. A woman trying to walk in the steps of men or the reverse makes little sense to me.
unhappy
unhappy
13 hours ago
I spent 2 years in heavy jungle fighting in the central highlands as an infantry platoon Sgt. It was tough enough to wash out many a male paratrooper. If not dysentery, malaria, infections , dehydration, hunger or fatigue it was something else. It was bad..the discomfort of the physical was ONE factor..the death, maimings, injuries and wounds, troopers blown literally to bits, legs and arms blown off. Big bags of bloody pulp that was your friend a few minutes ago. You liberal morons want to train American Women for that? You can train and test the physical..Mental? You people are out of your friggin minds to subject any Woman to the mental. The seals ain't testing for that I bet.
Timothy
Timothy
17 hours ago
What a waste of time and money, not to mention she took a billet that a male could have filled...
Brian G
Brian G
14 hours ago
I hate Yahoo headlines, does Yahoo hire grade school dropouts? The "Only Woman THAT Was Training" should be "Who Was Training". The U.S. pays a lot of money for education, why doesn't that work? ( And, no, it shouldn't be "why doesn't who work." )
william
william
11 hours ago
Hopefully the Navy will not cave in the future and lower the standards like the Army did for the two women they pushed through Ranger school after they should have been dropped from the course after several no-go's.
William
William
13 hours ago
She dropped out because she was being sexually harassed. The were making her do the exact same training as the males. This is textbook sexual harassment.
TrollemAll
TrollemAll
13 hours ago
I sincerely hope the SEALs don't water down or coddle anyone. It's supposed to be the best of the best, regardless of race or sex.
jm0000
jm0000
11 hours ago
I hope that the Navy follows the Marine Corps' lead by not lowering their standards in order to allow everybody to participate in order to accommodate political agendas. I was a Marine and served alongside special operators on several occasions. The physical demands that they meet in real world operations often exceed the demands of their initial training. The training is designed to identify those that meet the standard physically, but more importantly, to identify those that are capable of completing the mission no matter how difficult. This is not a boy's club, but rather an organization of people that are physical specimens and in addition have the ability to overcome all obstacles. If you can meet those standards, great. If not, there are plenty of other ways to serve your nation.
Benjamin
Benjamin
12 hours ago
Before we are too hard on her, let's remember that 75% of men drop out by the end of the first month.
Heff
Heff
12 hours ago
Just lower the bar like Google would. Sacrifice ability on the PC altar and then fire anyone who complains.
Ranger
Ranger
10 hours ago
Why don't women complain about equality in professional boxing, marshal arts. I think matches would be more interesting is we see men and women fighting against each other. Equality, is it not?
Beau
Beau
11 hours ago
No honorable society sends its women, and mentally ill people in to battle, period.
Frustrated
Frustrated
10 hours ago
No woman can ever become a Seal, it`s a foolish conversation to even have.
Michael
Michael
9 hours ago
The physical difference between men and women and their ability to perform equally is clear. With maybe rare exceptions women come not make a male college sports team. Even a good male high school track runner could beat any world class women runner. So let's not pretend women are equal physically. Women have their own skills that men can't compete with. If people insist, then universities only have one baseball,football,basketball,swimming and other team sports and let's see how many women are on the teams. None.
Frank C
Frank C
9 hours ago
This is a BS story. She was not even close to being a SEAL candidate. This was just a failed liberal talking point.
Carl Rove
Carl Rove
11 hours ago
~ The liberals say they believe in science, then when reality strikes, the try to twist science with their daily trash-talk. . . Perhaps someone should have known there is something called Biology ~
jud
jud
11 hours ago
PLENTY of men DROP OUT TOO.......FACT
IntolerantLiberal
IntolerantLiberal
14 hours ago
Until their are physical bionic implants that create superhuman strength in just about anything, all these things are and will ever be are political stunts at best to placate social justice. At least she tried. I would never claim to be strong as a Seal. Best of the best.
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