Maj. Gen. Scott Miller defended the Army Ranger School and its three female graduates at a media roundtable Friday. During this meeting, Miller told reporters that he could not investigate or confirm their claims if all of their sources remain anonymous.

“I can’t address them if they are opaque,” Miller said to the reporters in attendance. “These guys can’t address them or fix them if they are opaque.” The meeting took place four hours after Maj. Lisa Jaster received her Ranger tab.

One reporter at the roundtable was PEOPLE correspondent Susan Keating. After she published an article that accused the Army of giving female Ranger students Capt. Kristen Griest and Lt. Shaye Haver an unfair edge, Keating broke a story claiming that the Army shredded Ranger School documents. Both stories relied on insights from anonymous sources reputedly within the Ranger School.

“I have thick skin and I am a public figure, but I will tell you who doesn’t deserve this is these guys,” Miller said, pointing to the Ranger instructors. “They don’t deserve this. I keep telling everybody I will put my name on anything I say or do. If they are not willing to put their name on it or come back to me…”

Keating interrupted Miller and asked whether her sources would be reprimanded for their statements. Miller said no.

1st Lt. Seth Clickner, a fellow student of Griest, Haver and Jaster, told the roundtable that he was recycled just as much as the female students. He spent 150 days in training.

“I was fortunate enough to get to do every phase of Ranger School twice,” Clickner joked. “I was in Shaye Haver’s squad the first time, Kristen Griest’s company for two go-throughs, and Maj. Jaster’s squad and company for the remainder. I saw no special treatment of the females. And if there was, I guess I must have missed out on that. I spent six months here and I saw nothing of the sort.”

Miller concluded the roundtable by reminding everyone that the real victims of this press debacle are the three women whose reputations are being put on the line. “I can guarantee you at the end of that pendulum it does not feel comfortable to sit there and be scrutinized for something that should be seen as a damn good accomplishment,” Miller said.