First level washout rate is 50%. Even the best prepared can “ring the bell” when they hit their wall. Only reason it makes news is that she is the first female to try. I give her an attaboy for at least trying. I know I wouldn’t make it.
...she is the first one of two females to try and the first to drop out.
And she is a third-year ROTC cadet; hasn’t earned her degree (or commission) yet.
One more note: making it through the screening course does not guarantee selection for SF training. During my days as an Air Force ROTC instructor, I had a cadet go through the screening course as a third-year cadet; he hoped to become a USAF combat controller. He was fit, sharp and motivated, but was not selected for the training program. Apparently, there was something in his psychological eval that the selection panel didn’t like, and he didn’t get the training slot. He would up as an AWACS controller.
I don’t know what that says about the combat controller community—or the AWACS crowd. But it is an example of how rigorous the screening process really is.