Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that he had personally spoken with Griest and Haver to congratulate them.
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“Congratulations to all of our new Rangers”. Rangers lead the way.
The first female graduates of the Army’s Ranger School offered their initial public comments Thursday on their experiences in breaking through that gender barrier, citing a mix of elation and exhaustion after an ordeal that one described as “the hardest days of my life”.
After her release, Lynch said the Pentagon had exaggerated her actions in the attack. They jump from airplanes, conduct miles-long marches, and navigate complicated obstacle courses.
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Another Ranger said that he realized “these women are for real” after he saw Griest and Haver finish “well ahead some of the males and well ahead of the 60 other men” who didn’t complete a 12-mile ruck marsh course during which they had to carry 50 pounds.
Mahon said she sees Griest occasionally at Orange Congregational Church, where they are both members. And the fact that at each event we succeeded in, we kind of were winning hearts and minds as we went. They will receive the Ranger Tab along with their male counterparts. “Because you’re not carrying all 2,000 rounds yourself”, said 2nd Lt. Michael Janowski. Commanders said that the majority of the women who failed to complete the Ranger course were washed out for academic rather than physical reasons. Swedes say having women in combat roles, particularly those who’ve served in Afghanistan, has been positive for operations.
Griest will be among 96 soldiers pinning on the Ranger tab in a special ceremony at Ft. The next class begins in November and it, too, will have female Ranger candidates.
“Haver was the most intense; she was the most vocal, she wasn’t afraid to speak up”, Sgt.
One woman is still attempting to complete the program.
“There’s a point that you hit along the way, doesn’t matter where it is, it’s different for everybody“, said Haver, 25.
Griest says she is happy to be done with the course, which she took to become a better leader. “She has always been very athletic and very smart”, he said, adding that she can do “an insane” number of push-ups.
Griest was picked as the distinguished honor graduate of a course run in December to prepare soldiers for Ranger School, according to a Facebook post by her reported unit, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. “If she had been allowed to go infantry out of college, she would have done that”, he said. She didn’t leave out anything. I got a lot of deer in the headlight looks. “But I have been commissioned to be an army leader, period”.
The Ranger course tests soldiers’ ability to overcome fatigue, hunger and stress during combat operations.
In April the first integrated class started with 400 soldiers including 19 women. The students were forced to train with minimal food and little sleep and had to learn how to operate in the woods, mountains and swamplands. Griest agreed, saying an exception shouldn’t be made for women.
It’s not clear what awaits the female graduates, however.
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.
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Some observers believe Haver and Griest’s history-making move should once and for all prove that women are prepared to meet the military’s most demanding ground combat assignments.
