Army Ranger School now open to women
Move comes after 2 women fifinished arduous training.
Service makes change after two women graduated from elite Georgia camp.
The Army announced Wednesday that it is opening its legendary Ranger School to women on a full-time basis, following the historic graduation last month of two female soldiers.
The school, with headquarters at Fort Benning, Georgia, has been a centerpiece of the military’s ongoing research on integrating women into more jobs in combat units. Capt. Kristen Griest, 26, a military policy offifficer, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, 25, an Apache helicopter pilot, became the fifirst women to graduate from school Aug. 21, after spending months alongside men enduring the grueling training.
Army Secretary John McHugh said the service must ensure that the opportunity afforded to Griest and Haver is available to “all soldiers who are qualifified and capable,” and that the Army is
continuing to assess how to select, train and retain its best soldiers. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the service’s top offifficer, added that combat readiness is the Army’s top priority.
“Giving every qualifified soldier the opportunity to attend the Ranger Course, the Army’s premier small unit leadership school,
ensures we are maintaining our combat readiness today, tomorrow and for future generations,” Milley said.
The course lasts a min- imum of 61 days, and can take longer for anyone who is allowed to “recycle,” or try one of the school’s phases more than once.
The graduation of Griest and Haver has increased pressure on the military to integrate women into more jobs that are still closed, such as infantryman. Pentagon leaders made a landmark decision in January 2013 to open all jobs in the military to women, but gave the services until this fall to make recommendations on whether some jobs should remain closed.
Ranger School opened to women for the fifirst time in April, with 20 women qualifying for the course and 19 electing to attempt it. Griest and Haver are the only ones to graduate, although a third woman has advanced to the school’s third and fifinal phase at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Ranger School has faced scrutiny from some veterans and active-duty troops who are opposed to further integrating women into the military, but its leaders have insisted that they did not lower the standards to allow Griest and Haver to pass.
“We could have invited each of you to guest walk the entire course, and you would still not believe,” wrote Maj. Jim Hathaway in a Facebook post last month. Hathaway is the second in command at the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade that oversees the school. “We could have video recorded every patrol and you would still say that we ‘gave’ it away. Nothing we say will change your opinion.”