These Are the Army's First Female Ranger School Graduates
Source: Stars and Stripes
For more than 120 days, Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver have ground it out at Ranger School, the Army's famously difficult school designed to build elite leaders capable of withstanding the rigors of combat. They've withstood fearsome weather, exhausting hikes, sleepless nights and simulated combat patrols designed to test their reaction time, teamwork and tenacity under fire.
On Friday, the two women will become the first female soldiers ever to graduate from the course at Fort Benning, Ga., receiving the coveted black and yellow Ranger Tab alongside 94 male counterparts. Griest, a military police officer from Orange, Conn., and Haver, an Apache helicopter pilot from Copperas Cove, Texas, are among a group of 20 women who qualified to attend the first gender-integrated Ranger School beginning April 20, and the only two female soldiers to complete it to date.
The graduation of Haver and Griest, both in their 20s and alumnae of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., increases pressure on the Army to integrate women into more combat jobs. They have not previously been identified by the Army, but The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Georgia were able to do so after observing Ranger School training several times this year.
Ranger School was opened to women for the first time in April as the Army assesses how to integrate women into more jobs in combat units across the service. That followed a January 2013 decision by senior Pentagon leaders to open all jobs to women, with the services granted until this fall to make recommendations on whether anything should remain closed. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is expected to rule on each request by Jan. 1.
Read more: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/these-are-the-army-s-first-female-ranger-school-graduates-1.363536
phylny
(8,389 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)They already know whats expected of them.
ProfessorGAC
(65,212 posts)And, they probably knew exactly what it took to get through Ranger school, and knew they were good enough.
kairos12
(12,875 posts)Response to kairos12 (Reply #4)
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Response to DashOneBravo (Reply #25)
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blackspade
(10,056 posts)candelista
(1,986 posts)Plato would have approved.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)and that women are not disqualified by gender alone.
Xyzse
(8,217 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Prepare, but prepare for peace.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)War is peace, and so what is the argument for having more killers of another sex: that female killers will bring the feminine mystic to holding the peace through war?
I do not see this as an advance in equality so much as a glorification of war.
Pawns of war. Female edition.
What kind of revolution do I have in mind? Glad you asked!
Make starting any war illegal.
DemByDefault
(40 posts)But that said, congrats to those hard working women for their achievements
b.durruti
(102 posts)hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)I cannot begin to imagine the hard work and dedication required for this accomplishment, but I salute both women on this accomplishment.
May their success serve to empower other women to know that a woman can do anything that she sets her mind to do!
Aristus
(66,467 posts)Of course, this is going to drive all the misogynists I know on military Facebook pages crazy. They're going to go berserk with helpless rage. I can't wait...
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)She reported the two new Rangers are refusing individual interviews, although their entire group (class? squad?) will be made available to the press.
Because they are that HARDCORE.
monicaangela
(1,508 posts)Perseverance in any undertaking is a thing to be admired. Someday hopefully humanity will reflect upon inequality and realize the fact that lumping any category into a particular box is not only ignorant, it is a waste of talent. We should never take any group of people, by gender, by race, by color, by ethnicity, or whatever the case and decide they can or cannot accomplish a feat. I believe in being prepared for whatever may come, and if these women are going to make the military their career, they should not only be prepared, but should also be allowed to excel.
Graduating from this course has more implications than just being ready for the battleground, it also allows these women to gain stature right along with the men when it comes to rank, pay, and so many other things that go along with the prestige of being a Ranger. Equality, this is what we strive for and that is what these women have been able to accomplish...they are equal to everyone else who was fortunate enough to graduate this training, and superior in strength and agility to many who had to drop out...Gender should never be a factor when it comes to allowing someone the opportunity to follow the rules and thereby prove their ability to become a leader ...hats off to the ladies for their stamina and their ability to gain their place in military history.
swilton
(5,069 posts)that women are the softer and gentler sex.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)EX500rider
(10,872 posts).....but the Rangers are more elite light infantry then Special Force Operators..(ie Delta, Green Berets, SEAL's, MARSOC , etc..)
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Because they all should be. Either you qualify or not. If someone can do a job, then they shouldn't be discriminated against.
EX500rider
(10,872 posts).....that's why this was a big deal.....SEAL's are considering it next. There are rumored to be some female Delta operators who do undercover stuff....don't know if it's true.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)Here's a great article for all those who think they got it easy.
[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/08/20/ranger-school-officer-combats-rumors-about-how-women-passed-in-pointed-facebook-post/|