Praise for first 2 women to pass Ranger School

Associated Press

FORT BENNING, Ga.

The first two women to pass the Army’s notoriously difficult Ranger School impressed male classmates left in their dust during road marches and proved their mettle as teammates by helping carry heavy weapons when others were too fatigued to lift another ounce.

As the Pentagon weighs a decision on allowing women to serve in combat jobs long held by men only, a Ranger School comrade offered a blunt assessment of Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver as they spoke to reporters Thursday.

“They can serve by my side anytime because I know I can trust them,” 2nd Lt. Erickson Krogh said. “Especially these two. I’d have no qualms about serving with them in combat.”

Griest, 26, of Orange, Conn., and Haver, 25, of Copperas Cove, Texas, will become the first women to wear the Army’s coveted Ranger tab when they graduate alongside 94 male soldiers today at Fort Benning.

Despite proving their grit in the two-month Ranger course, the two women still are unable to join infantry, armor and special forces units – including the 75th Ranger Regiment. That could change next year after the Pentagon makes its recommendations.

At a news conference Thursday, the women stopped short of saying they earned a place in combat units by finishing the notoriously grueling two-month Ranger course – something only about 3 percent of Army soldiers accomplish. But Griest said she hopes the achievement at least carries some weight in the final decisions.

“I’m definitely interested to see what new doors do open up for women,” said Griest, a military police officer and Afghanistan veteran stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky.

She said she might be interested in a special-forces career if that path was open to her.

Haver, an Apache helicopter pilot stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., said she plans to stick with aviation. She acknowledged going into Ranger School with some doubts as to how male soldiers would react.

“It’s pretty cool that they have accepted us,” she said. “We ourselves came into this with our guard up just in case there were haters or naysayers. But we didn’t come with chips on our shoulders like we had anything to prove.”

Several male classmates chosen by the Army to attend a news conference with Griest and Haver acknowledged they, too, weren’t sure at first that female soldiers could handle long marches and patrols carrying rucksacks, rifles and other gear weighing 100 pounds or more.

Spc. Christopher Carvalho, a medic in the same Ranger school class, said his skepticism ended on the first road march when the women left many of their male counterparts far behind.