Nineteen women began Ranger School in April as part of a Pentagon mandate to open combat units to women.
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Sometimes when the going got tough at Ranger School, one of the women who graduated in August recently told an audience of West Point cadets, she would draw inner strength by thinking about the first marathon she ever ran.
Jester graduates today, joining Captain Kristen Griest and Frist Lieutenant Shay Haver as the only women in the elite Army Rangers.
Tribune News Service is reporting that Russell, a Republican freshman from Oklahoma City, sent a second letter last week to the Secretary of the Army demanding access to Ranger school records for classes that included female soldiers.
“I was somewhat puzzled by the Army officials informing me that numerous documents I am requesting might not be delivered as they may have been shredded”, Russell said in the letter.
She joins the ranks of many men that have gone before her and the two other recent female graduates of the school. A 2000 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, she works as an engineer for Shell Oil in Houston. Other times, according to cadets who heard her speak, she said the exhaustion would be too much, as on a late night patrol when, confused by a sudden stop, she found herself talking to a bush.
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“At my age, I’ve done a few things, so I’ve got a deep well of motivation that I can dig down into”, said Jaster, a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an article the Reserve posted. Senior Army leaders have submitted their recommendation to the Defense Department; a decision isn’t expected until the end of the year. Two male soldiers were also given the same opportunity but declined.
