Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Ranger mom changes the debate

A couple of months ago, two young women graduated from Ranger School and sparked a debate on social media.

On Friday, a 37-year-old mother of two graduated from Ranger School and changed the conversation.

At least, that's what I've noticed on my own Facebook page.

As editor of the Ledger-Enquirer, I naturally want lots of people to read our stories, and social media is a great way to spread the word.

Like most people, I have some Facebook friends who live in other states and even countries, so I don't share every local Ledger-Enquirer story with them. Usually, I choose the ones that have broad appeal.

The story of women graduating from Ranger School has broad appeal.

As Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver were making their historic march to Victory Pond, I shared coverage from our reporter Chuck Williams.

The reaction from my female Facebook friends was enthusiastic, often including exclamations like "You go, girls!" and sometimes even emoticons.

Far fewer of my male Facebook friends responded, but some who did were wondering if the standards had been changed and if the women earned it.

The big question was this: Could women be effective combat leaders?

That was the reaction when the first two women graduated. Griest and Haver are both company-grade officers and recent U.S. Military Academy grads in their 20s. Both are single without children.

Now a third woman, Lisa Jaster, has passed Ranger School. She's a field-grade officer who graduated from West Point at the turn of the century, as well as a reservist whose day job is engineer for Shell Oil.

Oh, and she's the mother of two children ages 3 and 7.

That has changed the debate, at least on my Facebook page.

The question has turned from whether women could be combat leaders to whether women should be combat leaders.

It started when a grandmother posted this comment: "I don't like women in our military but I have to admire their spunk."

That stirred this reaction from the mother of a daughter in kindergarten: "That's a silly thing to say."

To which the grandmother responded: "I am entitled to an opinion even if you see it differently."

This discussion was not about sharing facts and knowledge but about proclaiming personal beliefs, which of course is when things get uncomfortable on Facebook.

I have another friend whose husband is a Ranger. She's an engineer and fitness enthusiast who rides a motorcycle and builds furniture, and who a while back made the sacrifice to quit her full-time job and become a stay-at-home mom for her three little girls.

She shared the story about Jaster on her page, and here's what she said: "Wow, I find myself proud of someone I don't even know."

To which one of her

friends, also a mother, replied: "It's against God's design for women. There is no need to prove my 'womanhood' by accomplishing everything a man can do."

To which my friend replied: "It's not about proving womanhood. It's about being given the opportunity to do what you CAN do. There will always be exceptional women."

I thought that was a nice response.

If you can do something -- or if you want to bring religion into it, if God designed you as a unique individual to do a certain thing -- then you should get an opportunity to do it.

In other words, if you can, you should. Or at least get an opportunity to try.

That's one side of the debate. Let it continue, I guess.

Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, executive editor, dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Ranger mom changes the debate ."