I read that it's not a done deal as far as the Infantry and Armor fields integration goes. Apparently the new CJCS, General Dunford, was in charge of the whole IOC assessment, from which we know that no female passed. Career guys I'm following on this subject say it would be impossible to allow women in Army infantry but not Marine infantry. We'll know soon enough. I think October is the deadline for the services to request an exception. The only exceptions requested so far were for enlisted females on older Los Angeles class subs, due to the difficulty and expense of retrofitting for mixed enlisted crews.
Dempsey was on record with policy stating that any exceptions would need to present evidence (not just opinion) why the integration could not occur. And if it was due to not meeting a standard, then why that standard was a mission requirement.
It will be very hard for General Dunford to change that.
For Army IN, that barrier was mainly RS. Logic chain: IN officers without opportunity to earn RS tab would be a significant disadvantage by missing key leadership skills and also in terms of promotion, etc.
But with the grand experiment showing that females can pass RS, that barrier is no longer in effect. Arguments about whether the experiment was statistically or qualitatively valid will not matter.
Or relevance... the real question is not "if" women can pass, I think we all knew there were women capable of passing. But instead, can enough make it through ranger school to make a meaningful difference?
The concern is that it will be opened up. But not enough pass, or attempt. So something must be wrong, and the gold standard will be revisited, and ultimately watered down. That's what most of the stakeholders I know are concerned about.
None of the cadets, USMA grads, and currently serving that I know really have an issue with Females serving as peers, as long as they are truly peers. Same performance standard, same measures, no forced quotas, etc. But that's the hard part, we know from past experience.
The Army knows how to deal with logistics issues... even did it in RS. And has already dealt with it elsewhere. So that won't be a barrier.
The annoying thing is now the Army will have to deal with "RS is a chick's school" comments relative to IOC. It's already started.