A wannabe-G.I. Jane\u2019s dream of becoming the first female Navy S.E.A.L. ended because military recruiters delayed her application so long that she aged out, she claimed in a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The US Navy officials failed to advance Amanda S. Reynolds\u2019 application, then told her in the fall that she would no longer qualify for Naval Officer Training Command in Newport, RI, because she\u2019d be over the age limit of 42 by the time she graduated, according to court papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity . . . was kind of taken away from me. I would like that to be reinstated,\u201d Reynolds, 41, told The Post. \u201cI would just like the outcome to be determined by the merits instead of by some sort of technicality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could have gone to officer candidate school in February, [but] they delayed my application without reason or cause and then they told me I was too old,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Long Island lawyer first sought to join the Navy in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working in litigation for 12 years, and I kind of got burnt out working 24\/7,\u201d the Woodbury resident said, calling the SEALs \u201csuch a more noble cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
An avid long-distance runner and swimmer who is SCUBA certified, Reynolds said the special forces \u201ckind of jibed with my physical pursuits.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a personal statement submitted as part of her efforts to enlist, Reynolds wrote of her \u201cViking-like pursuit\u201d to be a SEAL.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an American, I was born with what I can only describe as an inexpressible, indefatigable nature to dream,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAnd so, dream I do \u2014 never forgetting it is only under the auspices of this great nation\u2019s military who protects my inalienable right to do so that I may.\u201d<\/p>\n
Service runs in the family, Reynolds said. Her grandfather served in the Norwegian Ski Patrol; her uncle was an American World War II pilot shot down in the Pacific, and her older brother is an FBI agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to serve as this country\u2019s first female Navy SEAL Officer, so that there may be a second, and a third, and an infinitesimal many more female candidates who might impress upon you these shared values in the very same way,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
But her dream stalled almost from the get-go.<\/p>\n
Reynolds, who is representing herself in her Brooklyn Federal Court age-discrimination case against the US Navy, claimed she was \u201csworn into\u201d the Navy in Brooklyn in 2018 but \u201cwas never assigned anywhere or deployed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reynolds filled out \u201cenlistment paperwork\u201d in 2019, according to the Navy, which had \u201cno record of service\u201d for her.<\/p>\n
She then moved to Utah where she worked as a lawyer and revisited her enlistment in 2020. But she was was arrested in July 2020 for allegedly driving under the influence, a misdemeanor which was dismissed in 2023, court records show.<\/p>\n
She returned to Long Island and again chased her dreams of joining the SEALs, but found recruiters were quick to urge her to use her legal skills in the military\u2019s Judge Advocate General.<\/p>\n
She claims recruiters told her that \u201cage waivers were always obtainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really gearing up to participate in the pipeline process, really taking all the right steps to proceed with the application,\u201d she said. But the app \u201cwas not submitted\u201d by recruiters and \u201cunjustifiably delayed,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n
The Navy declined comment on the litigation.<\/p>\n
The Defense Department opened the military\u2019s elite units, such as the SEALs and the Army\u2019s Green Berets, to women in 2016 but no woman has ever finished the process to become a SEAL.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never really about me being a female SEAL, it was just about me being a SEAL who happened to be a woman,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It’s really the Navy’s loss here that such a spectacular officer and special operations candidate that would have busted down barriers and brought much needed real life experience on the dangers of consuming intoxicating substances and operating motor vehicles to the troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This middle-aged lawyer lady from Long Island is suing the Navy. She was *this*\u00a0close to fulfilling … She coulda been a SEAL<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":168785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,119,712,271],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dumbass-bullshit","category-navy","category-seals","category-ygbsm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/168785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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