Pilot, officer first female Rangers
The women are scheduled to graduate Friday
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Apache helicopter pilot from Texas and a military police officer from Connecticut are the first women to complete the Army’s grueling Ranger School, families of the soldiers confirmed Wednesday.
Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, are scheduled to graduate Friday alongside 94 male soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In a joint statement Wednesday, the families of 26-year-old Griest and 25-year-old Haver said the women were “just like all the soldiers” in their graduating class: “happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep.”
The two-month Ranger course tests soldiers’ ability to overcome fatigue, hunger and stress during combat operations. The Army opened Ranger School to female soldiers for the first time this year as part of the military’s push to open more combat jobs to women.
“It’s just
completely amazing,” Chris Haver, Haver’s father said. “I’m super proud. I know a lot of guys that have been through it and tell me how hard the course is. They tell me it’s the toughest, most mentally demanding course they’ve been too.”
The Army has not released the names of the two women.
Chris Haver confirmed to The AP that his daughter was one of the Ranger School graduates. Griest’s parents did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. But a defense official confirmed that Griest, a military police officer who has served in Afghanistan, was the second woman to finish the course.