MISSION FIRST: Glidepath To Greatness

She was going to do it. You bet she was going to do it. When Jasmine Morgan set her mind to something, anything, she succeeded. And, not to brag or anything, things came kind of easy to her. Didn't matter if it was in gymnastics or cheerleading. Didn't matter if it was pledging to the sorority at Louisiana State University (LSU) or deciding to quickly scrap her college career in Baton Rouge for West Point and four years later becoming a second lieutenant as part of the Class of 2014 at the United States Military Academy.

And now, heading toward the finish line of her 12-mile hike carrying a 45-pound pack, Jasmine Morgan was going to be one of the first female United States Army Rangers in history.

Whoa! Say what?! A gymnast with zero interest in West Point until she attended a friend of her brother's graduation from the Academy, till she saw the pageantry and heard the words spoken from the alter, till she read devotionals while at LSU forwarded by mom that screamed from the page, "In with the new, out with the old. Get your butt to West Point Jasmine Morgan!'' OK, well they didn't exactly say the last part, but might as well have, for she suddenly recognized a higher calling.

But this was Ranger School, one of the most grueling physical and mental military training missions on the planet. Getting to Ranger School was hard enough, managing a similar grind completing RTAC, the Ranger Training Assessment Course, also at Ft. Benning, Ga., which she failed once. Morgan was amongst the second class of women being given the opportunity to complete RTAC. She buzzed through it on her second try and was off to Ranger School with 18 other women.

She was going to join the "crème de la crème" of Army forces. Army Rangers.

"I wasn't that nervous,'' she says.

…

Tom Morgan learned real fast the art of discipline. You screw up in the Morgan household, you get your butt kicked by dad. Plain and simple. We aren't talking a couple taps on the back side. We are talking a good old-fashioned kicking.

Thomas Morgan's idea was to mold responsible, disciplined, accountable young men – leaders of character, in Army terms. He was a 30-year Army man, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major, and Tom was born right there at Ft. Benning, home of Ranger School. So the boys made their bed, did the dishes, washed their clothes, cleaned the house and yard, shined their shoes (and dad's boots). If you screwed up any of these chores, or maybe even if you didn't, or made that fateful foray into acting like a kid, you got, in Tom's words, "jacked up.''

Young Tom Morgan had a football scholarship to the University of Texas. It seemed to be an easy enough decision – competing at one of the finest football colleges in the country, surrounded by beautiful girls … football, girls, girls, football. Dad suggested Tom apply to West Point, and Tom replied, much how his daughter would initially react to the place three decades later, "What the hell is that?''

He went to West Point. He chased a "higher calling." You hear that phrase a lot around West Point graduates. The epiphanic realization that other places could net acceptable results, maybe even sprinkle some greatness, but that no sheepskin and four years of sweat equity could produce the same potential as the teachings of the Academy.

"This was a way to not only get a greater education, but to enhance your leadership abilities,'' he says.

Army head coach Lou Saban didn't recruit Morgan, which might help explain Saban's departure in July 1980 after a 2-8-1 season. Morgan "walked on" and played on the 150-pound football team as a freshman. The spring of that Plebe year he made the varsity squad and lettered for three seasons, as a defensive back. Those were non-descript teams by the numbers. Army went a collective 10-21-2 playing an insufficient I-back offense that left Morgan and fellow defenders sucking air by the third quarter.

But Morgan's teams hold a special place in Army Football history. Army had just named a new coach as Morgan graduated in 1983, and it was only a year before Jim Young brought his fancy, clock-eating wishbone offense to the 1984 Cherry Bowl followed by years of gridiron success at Michie Stadium.

After all, sometimes if you can't reach the top of the mountain, you can show others the way. "We take great pride in that,'' Morgan says.

Tom took a unique route to becoming an Army Ranger through the Aviation branch of the United States Army. He met his wife, Vanessa, and they had Michael, a football and baseball player at Hardin-Simmons University. Michael, 28, has gone on to a successful career as a crude oil trader.

Along came Jasmine. She was blessed with dad's physical gifts and both her parents' inner toughness. Dad was always Jasmine's biggest fan, but the whole West Point thing caught him off-guard. He didn't drill West Point into his daughter's ear the way his own dad had with him.

Tom was speechless the day Jasmine announced to the family that she was attending the United States Military Academy. Tom was emotionally overwhelmed. His mind and body needed time to process the news. His baby was going to West Point. And he worried that Jasmine finally was in over her head.

"You are out of your mind,'' he eventually told her. "West Point will eat you up and spit you out.''

"She was always a 'never-say-never,' 'I-can' kind of person,'' Tom says. "She's been able to do a lot of things that most guys can't. I didn't see that come out until West Point. West Point drove her to do amazing things. She loved West Point, and talks about West Point using the 'love' word all the time.''

…

Jasmine Morgan was captain of the Rabble Rousers, Army's cheerleading squad. She branched Adjutant General, working closely with the Chief of Staff as something of a Human Resources director, ensuring that soldiers had everything necessary for combat. It's not as strenuous as other branches, instead requiring exceptional organization and administrative skills. Her sharp mind and bubbly personality seemed perfectly suited for it. She also wanted to become Airborne qualified and part of the 82nd.

An article caught Morgan's attention. It referred to the possibility of women being allowed into Ranger School. She started investigating the idea, but Ranger School remained mostly a myth to her. After all, there were no Adjutant Generals becoming Army Rangers.

She expressed interest to a mentor and he passed along a training program that could help prepare Jasmine should she give it a shot. Always exceptionally conditioned, she followed the program while at Ft. Jackson, S.C.

She graduated from Airborne School at Ft. Benning and took leave time around Christmas 2014. Ranger School was still in the back of her mind, but the status of female Army Rangers wasn't expected to be determined until Jan. 15. Jasmine reported to her unit at Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Before that, she had received a career-changing email while at Ft. Jackson. She had been selected as part of the 1st Special Forces Command Airborne Provisional, G1, working in her chosen branch for all of Army's Special Forces. Few recent graduates received such an immediate opportunity, and Jasmine had no idea why she was selected.

"There are definitely a lot of perks with being with the best,'' she says. "Not to say others aren't the best, but this is definitely a unique group.''

Jasmine wanted to be one of them. She was initially denied a chance to go to RTAC, the pre-Ranger course, before a spot opened up. Jasmine had almost no time to get ready for the two-week course, a brutal test of physical and mental strength consisting of hour upon hour of training wrapped around a couple hours sleep a night. The point was to weed out the weak through whatever means necessary.

Jasmine passed the physical test on Day One but flubbed the Land Navigation test, in which soldiers are dropped off in the middle of the woods with a map and compass, and must reach a destination in the allotted time. She got lost. That meant five straight days of the five-hour Land Navigation in addition to other physical requirements. She failed Land Navigation a second time and was told she would have to complete the entire RTAC course again to qualify for Ranger School.

No way was she going through that whole thing again, Jasmine thought initially. But she had too much fight in her to quit. She worked out three times a day from February to April, using a keen program to better prepare her for RTAC. She zoomed through RTAC to qualify for Ranger School.

"I was better, faster, stronger than I had ever been,'' she says of breezing through RTAC this time. "It was so easy. I literally didn't blink.''

The word "easy" and Ranger School will never encounter the same sentence. First was the physical fitness test: a five-mile run in under 40:00, 49 pushups, 59 situps, six pull-ups. No problem. Last was the 12-mile hike with a 45-pound pack to be completed in three hours. Soldiers either met the time criteria after each mile or failed. Jasmine flew through the first six miles. By mile eight she was still OK.

By Mile 10 she was shot. Her mind told her to move faster but her body didn't respond. With just two miles to go, Jasmine was informed that she had failed to meet the 10-mile time requirement.

"I honestly didn't think it was real,'' she says. "I thought it was a joke.''

Six weeks later, Jasmine still struggled to express her disappointment. She was certain she would go on to become an Army Ranger if she passed. "It's devastating. I thought I let so many people down.''

Jasmine realized if she wasn't going to make the first class of female Army Rangers, she was going to be a better person for the effort. There were eight women remaining when Jasmine left Ranger School. The number was down to three shortly thereafter.

She might take another stab at becoming an Army Ranger. It all depends on where Jasmine's career sits when or if the opportunity presents itself again. But she knows more about herself than ever. She knows she can accomplish anything she wants, knows that given another shot, she can become an Army Ranger. She also knows she doesn't need to join Army's most elite special forces to prove her worth.

Jasmine Morgan knows she has made her two main mentors proud. Mom, Vanessa, wrote Jasmine letters of encouragement every single day during the first of all brutal West Point exercises, Cadet Basic Training – Beast Barracks – all while battling Stage 4 cancer. "Stay strong!'' Vanessa told her girl. "You can do it!''

Vanessa passed away during Jasmine's freshman year, the hardest thing Jasmine has ever endured.

"I got my strength from her,'' Jasmine says. "Just a very strong-willed person. She was incredible.''

Dad's pride oozes from his words. Jasmine didn't quite understand all of Tom's teachings when she was young; "Learn from the front,'' he would say.' But lessons have long shelf lives. They turn into wisdom, create character, and in some cases, lead to greatness.

Army West Point Athletics

MISSION FIRST: Glidepath To Greatness

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