“They tell me it’s the toughest, most mentally demanding course they’ve been to”.
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The two-month Ranger course tests soldiers’ ability to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress during combat operations.
But she did, and what kept her going through her darkest hours was a drive not to disappoint anyone – her Ranger buddies who had placed trust in her, and the female soldiers who will one day follow in her footsteps, should Army leadership agree to open the school to any woman who can meet its standards.
Unlike the male graduates, Haver and Griest can’t apply to join the elite 75th Ranger Regiment.
The Pentagon is poised to open new roles, including the elite Navy SEALs, to women in the coming months after the end of a rule barring them from combat positions in 2013.
Thom “Jake” Jacobs coaches girls’ track now at Amity but coached boys when Griest was in high school.
Haver also hinted in the 2007 interview with the Copperas Cove Herald that she was willing to test her limits – a trait that would have served her well in Ranger School.
“I would say that it’s definitely awesome to be part of the history of Ranger school in general, also graduating with these guys next to me and the 90 plus other Ranger students that will graduate tomorrow”.
“She’s just a very intelligent person, but a learner and somebody who goes after what she wants in life”, said Sean Mahon, the husband of the principal and Griest’s former coach.
“Clearly, these two soldiers are trailblazers”, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told reporters”. The 94 men remaining come from an original pool of 380. They jump from airplanes, conduct miles-long marches, and navigate complicated obstacle courses. Remember these ultra-tough women (and their male classmates, too) when things start to get hard at your bootcamp class this weekend.
During the challenging course, Griest said, she was thinking of future generations of women that would like to have the same opportunity, “so I had that pressure on myself”. “You have to realize that your mind can take a whole lot more than your body can”, Haver said Thursday. Maj.
“We’ve shown that two women can make it through”, Miller said, acknowledging that the decision to admit women sparked controversy and led to heightened scrutiny of the latest iteration of the Ranger course.
U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., also congratulated the two women.
“Right then and there that’s what validated me to say these women are here to stay”, Carvalho said.
The current class started in April at Fort Benning, Georgia, with 381 men and 19 women.
Participants in the course learn to operate in three different environments – woodlands, mountainous terrain and a coastal swamp.
The issue of whether women should be permitted assignment in combat units is the kind of issue on which nearly every American has a view, but by which nearly no Americans are affected. The Army is now assessing which positions will be available to women, with the opening of Ranger school to both sexes part of that process.
Completing Ranger training is a badge of honor. The UK study that examined women in foreign fighting forces reported that the Netherlands armed forces benefit from teams comprised of men and women when it comes to crisis-response operations and peacekeeping missions.
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But well before the January 2013 change, the line between direct and support combat roles had been blurred in Afghanistan and Iraq, where 161 American women fighters died in action.
