A 26-year-old military police officer from Connecticut is among the first women to complete the Army’s elite Ranger School.
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The father of 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, confirmed Wednesday that she is one of two female soldiers scheduled to graduate Friday from Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
News of Griest and Haver’s accomplishment comes the same week as an announcement by top Navy leaders that the service plans to open its elite SEAL teams to women who can pass the grueling Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.
However, they are not yet members of the Ranger regiment…and that is a key.
The military’s toughest jobs remain closed to female soldiers. They both had to start from scratch, having failed two previous attempts.
“The Army announced earlier this year that it would begin allowing females to attend Ranger School, and 1LT Griest is well on her way to making history!” it said.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy today congratulates Captain Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, who will be one of the first two women to graduate from the United States Army Ranger School.
Soldiers who have earned Ranger Tabs, male or female, are not automatically part of the regiment, which has its own requirements and assessment process. Major Curtis Arnold told reporters. “These are dedicated, tough soldiers who do not quit and do not complain”.
Arnold said he suspects Haver and Griest had extra motivation to graduate “because you know everyone is watching. And truthfully there are probably going to be a few folks who want you to fail”. “So you’ve got to put out 110 percent”.
“CPT Griest and LT Haver are just like all the soldiers in Class 8-15 – happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep”, the statement said.
The Army invited the media into Ranger training so outsiders could see the men and women were being held to the same standard.
The Pentagon describes Ranger School as “the Army’s premier combat leadership course, teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress to lead soldiers during small unit combat operations”.
Griest and Haver are the first women to complete the course – considered the Army’s most physically challenging – since it was opened to them on an experimental basis this year.
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“This has been something she’s wanted to do for a long, long time”, Griest’s older brother, Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mike Griest, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
