An anonymous email blasting U.S. Army Special Forces training for allegedly lowering standards at the expense of churning out more Green Berets has triggered an investigation, Army Times reports.
The email alleged higher-ups barred punishment for training infractions and that physical standards for students were dramatically lowered. Widespread corruption within the school, including recruits trying to bribe instructors to pass or using connections with senior officials to graduate when they did not meet standards, the email also alleged.
The Army Major General in charge of special forces training dismissed many of the claims in the email but admitted that some accusations “warrant further evaluation” and noted that an investigation would take place within existing forums. A particularly incendiary claim within the email alleges female candidates are given special treatment and not held to universal standards for graduation.
“The cruelty of the situation is that any woman with the fortitude to attempt this training would most definitely have wanted the standards to remain the same,” the email declares, adding: “It is a point of pride to know you are every bit as capable as the best of the best, if you can do it. But they have been robbed of the ability to earn that achievement.”
U.S. military and Congressional leaders have long warned that special operations forces are stretched to the brink after 16 years of continuous counter-terrorism operations.
“We’ve been operating at such a high tempo for the last decade-plus, and with budgets going down, what we’ve had to do is essentially . . . eat our young, so to speak,” acting Assistant Defense Secretary of Special Operations Theresa Whelan told Congress in March, adding “that has impacted readiness and it’s also impacted the development of force for the future.”
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