Houston Chronicle

Females graduate from Army Ranger School

First 2 women finish most difficult combat leadership course

- By Chuck Williams COLUMBUS LEDGER-ENQUIRER

COLUMBUS, Ga. — As the first two women to graduate from U.S. Army Ranger School sat with their classmates on the edge of Victory Pond on Friday, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Hoffnagle sat in the bleachers with his two young daughters.

Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, proved the skeptics wrong when they completed the Army’s most difficult combat leadership course and earned their way into what until now was an exclusive all-male club.

They did not speak to the media Friday — that was done Thursday at a news conference.

Breaking down the walls

The significan­ce of the moment was not lost on Hoffnagle, a former Ranger instructor and a four-time competitor in the Best Ranger Competitio­n, an annual event that seeks to determine the force’s top two-man team.

In January, Hoffnagle accepted an assignment to work with the female soldiers who had been selected to attend the first gender-integrated class.

He took the job for a couple of reasons: Aubrey, 9, and Abigail, 6.

“I knew that these girls could knock down these walls so my girls did not have to face the same trials and tribulatio­ns that these girls had to face,” Hoffnagle said.

It was an emotional moment when Griest and Haver got their tabs along with 94 men in a class that experience­d a high attrition rate and even a lightning strike in the Florida swamps that sent an entire platoon to the hospital.

Ask 1st Lt. Alessandra Kirby. She, too, was there to see the wall come down.

Kirby was one of the female soldiers the Army selected to serve as observers and advisers to the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade battalions. Tears fell as she watched the black and gold tabs being pinned on Haver and Griest.

‘Demeanor’ changes minds

A lot of people — inside and outside the Army — said it was not possible for a woman to complete Ranger School.

“This proves a woman can do it,” Kirby said. “It’s not about just putting the tab on. It’s how it was done. Their demeanor, the way that they performed, how many minds they changed through this entire journey.”

Kirby saw the mindset of some instructor­s change as the women shouldered the load and took an offer to restart the course after twice failing the patrol phase at Fort Benning.

“Many of them felt like they would not be able to do it,” Kirby said. “You could see they were strong and wanted it. … Their demeanor and focus changed everybody’s mind.”

Gen. Mark Milley, on the job of Chief of Staff of the Army for about a week, came to Fort Benning to witness the historic moment. He will be at the center of a decision later this year that could allow women to hold combat jobs that have been previously off limits.

The Army has announced that the November Ranger School class will be a second pilot course open to women. Milley made no public comments. He just watched and shook the hands of soldiers when it was done.

Not missing ‘out on history’

Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, normally a three-minute speaker, took 13 minutes under a scorching noon sun that caused at least one Ranger graduate to faint. The general put the historic nature of the event in perspectiv­e, addressing critics of the process with all the force of a former Delta Force commander, which he was.

At the end of the day, it was about history — and that was not lost on Hoffnagle, the man who trained the women soldiers after they completed the Ranger Training Assessment Course.

“I don’t want them to miss out on history,” he said of his daughters. “They know these girls, and I wanted them to be a part of this.”

He said he also had a pretty good idea some of the 19 women who started the course would successful­ly complete it. In addition to Haver and Griest, a third woman soldier is still in the course, repeating the mountain phase.

“I am not surprised at all,” he said. “I knew from Day 1 that those two had the potential to graduate. They broke through the walls.”

 ?? Jessica McGowan / Getty Images ?? First Lt. Shaye Haver is surrounded by a group of female friends and supporters after receiving her Ranger tab during the graduation ceremony of the United States Army’s Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Capt. Griest and 1st Lt. Haver are the...
Jessica McGowan / Getty Images First Lt. Shaye Haver is surrounded by a group of female friends and supporters after receiving her Ranger tab during the graduation ceremony of the United States Army’s Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Capt. Griest and 1st Lt. Haver are the...

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