Retired Ranger says congressman contacted him first about female Ranger grads

COLUMBUS, Ga. _ A former Ranger instructor who provided information and potential sources to an Oklahoma congressman’s office about the first Ranger School class to include women, said Wednesday that Rep. Steve Russell’s staff contacted him first.tmpplchld “First of all, I was not the one who started any of this,� said Michael “Bubba� Moore in a phone interview. “Russell was already doing his own thing. I had no idea who Russell was.�tmpplchld He said he doesn’t know how the congressman’s office got his name or phone number, but that he was contacted by Cody Hoefer, Russell’s defense and military adviser.tmpplchld “When I spoke with Cody,� Moore said, “I’m, like, ‘Dude, here’s what I know,’ and that was that.�tmpplchld Asked Wednesday if Hoefer had reached out to Moore, Russell’s Communication Director Daniel Susskind declined to comment.tmpplchld “We are refraining from comment until the Army has provided the records requested and those are evaluated,� Susskind said in an email. tmpplchld Russell, a retired Army lieutenant colonel with combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, sent a letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh on Sept. 15, requesting patrol grade sheets, spot reports, phase evaluation reports and sick call reports, all “with Ranger Instructors’ comments for each and every phase to include every recycled phase and class.�tmpplchld Russell also requested peer evaluations and “a complete breakdown of each female candidate’s recycle history and dates for each phase.�tmpplchld A day after the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported that Moore had spoken with the congressman’s office, Moore sent an email to the newspaper to clarify his position.tmpplchld “I am neither the sole source nor the instigator of this inquiry,� he wrote. “As I explained to your reporter, yes, I did refer sources to Rep. Russell. This was only after the Congressman began his inquiry, which I learned of from contacts within the Ranger community. I, along with many others, then referred people to Russell, after they reached out to me to ask for his contact information.�tmpplchld Requests to interview the congressman and Hoefer were denied. Russell’s only public statements came on a Facebook post last week.tmpplchld “The records request on the recent Ranger classes that included females is to investigate serious allegations that are being made by members of the military,� wrote Russell, one of only two Ranger qualified members of Congress, in a Facebook comment in response to the Ledger-Enquirer’s initial story about Russell’s inquiry. “No one wanted to touch this issue.�tmpplchld On Aug. 21, Capt. Kristen Griest, a military police officer from Orange, Conn., and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, an attack helicopter pilot from Texas, became the first two women to complete the Army’s most demanding combat leadership course.tmpplchld Moore, 47, retired last year after 21 years of military service, nearly 17 of those at Fort Benning. He was in the 75th Ranger Regiment when he completed Ranger School in August 1991. Moore spent about eight years in the regiment before becoming a Ranger instructor at the 4th Ranger Training Battalion at Fort Benning.tmpplchld tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.)tmpplchld Visit the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.) at www.ledger-enquirer.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld