More Army Psyops for Rangerettes

Rangerettes! They’d better use a lot of bug juice if they’re going to show up at Benning dressed like that. Image: Bob Rosato, Sports Illustrated. The Army has put its vast Information Operations apparatus — formerly Psychological Operations — to work bullshit-bombing the American public for the Pentagon’s initiative to push women into Ranger School, …

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Rangerette Micro-Update

RAP week is over. The two LTs and one MAJ have passed it for a second time. RAP week includes all the events that weed out the completely unprepared: PT test, a minimal swim test, various water events, a laughable land nav course that still produces over 10% failures, Ranger runs and a rucksack march. …

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Rangerettes are Back At It.

One of the “one time only” admittees from Class 6-15 in April, taking her PT test. Most of the women passed the PT test that day (we dunno about this gal, but her pushup form looks OK). It was downhill from there, and now we’re seeing pressure to lower standards. On 21 June a new …

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Some Rangerette Myths

There is a barrage of propaganda coming out of the Ranger School. There could be nothing but, with every one of the surviving female students — eight at the end of the first week — shadowed by a Corps of Commissars who broadly (no pun intended) outnumber the female Ranger candidates1, and a media scrum …

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A Rangerette Roundup

Put down the ropes, pard. Not that kind of roundup. We’re going to round up a few Rangerette stories about how our military is doing, marching off into the bright sunlit uplands of the Future with the New Soviet Non-Gendered Person in the vanguard of the proletariat. Or something. Navy: Chick Stands Watch. Man Dies …

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Ranger Fitness

On the Ranger School Preparation .pdf document, posted at the RTB’s official website, the Ranger Physical Fitness Test (RPFT) is described as one of the Ranger Assessment Phase’s, “key Must Pass Events that require a GO in order to continue your Ranger training.”  As far as RAP Week itself, the first three days (despite the name) …

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That Was the Week that Was: 2015 Week 26

That Was the Week that Was: 2015 Week 26 Another week is at an end, actually a little past its end as we’re posting this about 24 hours late and backdating it. Hey, we can do that. We have the magical powers of the admin login. It’s been an interesting week around here, as usual, …

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Sunday Slowness

Saturday was Crazy Day. Blogbrother’s schedule meant he was available only intermittently, and the weather was bad for it — too windy — but we were committed to prime most of the rest of the empennage parts. It went like this: We brought the parts up and inspected them. Every one that wasn’t deburred well …

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Rotten Read Review: Berenson: The Shadow Patrol

There is a downside to having the sort of personal characteristics that Special Forces either selects for, or develops in, a guy. Prominent among these characteristics is a level of persistence that is not normally found in neurotypical human beings. That sounds like a wonderful thing, and it is, when you’re trying to cover 12 miles …

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How to Make a Cannon

How to make a cannon, in two easy steps: Start with a large piece of steel Cut away everything not part of a cannon. Now, why didn’t we think of that? That’s pretty much what Imgur user TickTock34 did, winding up with a 3/4 inch caliber, smoothbore, black powder cannon. Best of all, he photographed just …

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