At a ceremony on the shore of “Victory Pond” at Fort Benning, First Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, graduated alongside 94 male soldiers. “I would like them to have the opportunity”.
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“But we didn’t come with a chip on our shoulder, like we had anything to prove”. “And I feel like anyone who comes to this school with that mentality is going to get their tab, whether they do it in 61 days or whether they do it in three-quarters of a year”. “If you can meet the standards that we’ve established, then you should be able to perform in that (position)”.
Griest says she is happy to be done with the course, which she took to become a better leader.
“We immediately integrated in our squad and became teammates that way”, Haver said. Only 3 percent of soldiers in the Army can make that graduation claim, and the bar wasn’t lowered an inch for any of the 19 women who started the course. We needed support from our Ranger buddies next to us. “They’re our heroes”.
Capt Griest, who trains 20 hours a day while carrying 41kg of kit and weapons, said she never thought of giving up.
The most important pre-training exercise to do prior to Ranger school is walking fast in your boots with 50 pounds of weight on your back. While she was proud to serve her country and make history, she didn’t believe in the war, she said. Major Curtis Arnold told reporters on Thursday in Fort Benning, Ga. “That won’t hold water based on this event occurring today”, said Faley.
“I think that [their] achievement is very significant, but I’m not surprised to see that two women have been successful”, Smith writes.
The women said they were determined not to give up.
“She’s kind of built for this thing”, Chris Haver said. That could change. Carter is due to decide in coming months whether to approve any recommended exceptions to a policy of opening all military positions to women.
To the two, I put my hands together and shout “HOOOAAAHH!” Though most of the military’s approximately 1,000 occupations are open to women, some of the toughest ones remain closed to them. But there are also several other options out there. They forever changed the Army’s expectations of women’s abilities to be at the front lines of combat. I myself am attack aviation, which I plan to continue to serve in, in my role as an aviator.
Griest grew up loving to camp in the wilderness and test her endurance, making her a natural to take on Ranger School, her brother said. The success of the two Ranger School graduates suggests that, at least in most cases, such reasons don’t exist. I witnessed only a small part of what these students go through. Ranger School has been described as the most physically and mentally demanding program in the Army. And if you want a peek into what earning that Ranger Tab really means, the magazine on Friday published the extreme requirements it demands.
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Department of Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened his Pentagon press conference congratulated all of the Ranger school graduates and addressed the fact that women can’t join the military’s combat forces.
