Two female Infantry officers recently completed U.S. Army Ranger School, the Army's premier combat leadership course, and have been awarded the coveted "tabs." The Army did not release the names of the women, who will be among 119 soldiers to receive their tabs in this course. The Army did confirm that they were both graduates of the Infantry Basic Officer Leaders Course.
They are the first women to complete the Army’s most demanding combat training school in almost 17 months following Capt. Kristen Griest, 1st Lt. Shaye Haver and Army Reserve Maj. Lisa Jaster. Griest and Haver earned their tabs on Aug. 21, 2015. Griest and Haver were the first women to graduate from the school, which is conducted in four phases, the first two at Fort Benning, then in the north Georgia mountains and the Florida panhandle swamps. Jaster graduated in October of that year. Griest, of Connecticut, is an Airborne-qualified military police officer. Haver, a Texas resident, is an Apache helicopter pilot.
Prior to Griest, Haver and Jaster, Ranger School had been open only to men. After Haver and Griest graduated, the school was opened to all soldiers — male or female — who qualified to attend. Much of the training for those jobs in the Army is done at Fort Benning. In October of last year, 10 women graduated from the Infantry Basic Officer Leaders Course at Fort Benning. They graduated with 156 men. The expectation for those who graduate from IBOLC is to attend Ranger School.
The opening of Ranger School to all soldiers came about the same time then Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter under President Obama officially opened all military jobs, including combat positions, to qualified men and women. Carter lifted all gender-based restrictions on military service. The move paved the way for women to serve in the previously all-male infantry, armor and Special Forces fields and opened nearly 220,000 jobs across the military.
Capt. Griest has since gone on to once again make history by becoming the Army's first female infantry officer. Griest graduated from the Maneuver Captain's Career Course. More women are expected to follow in her footsteps; the Army has since announced that it had approved requests from 22 female cadets to enter as second lieutenants in the infantry and armor branches. Thirteen of the new officers will enter into the armor branch, the other nine will go infantry.
There are also 135 women who successfully graduated from the Marine Corps enlisted infantry training course in 2015. Marine Corps 2nd Lts. Virginia Brodie and Katherine Boy, who recently graduated from the Basic Officer Leader Artillery Course. Both officers graduated at the top of their class of 137 students, and both cited having leaders who supported their early aspirations to become artillery officers as the key to their success.
Women are also making strides in leadership capacities. Women are now in charge of the academics and the leadership of the Army cadets at West Point. Brig. Gens. Diana Holland and Cindy Jebb assumed these posts in 2016. In May of that year, Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson took charge as the leader of U.S. Northern Command. Robinson’s leadership and strategic vision will be essential to the country’s ability to defend itself against the very real threat of terrorism. According to the secretary of defense, Robinson was selected for the position because she was the most competitive for the job out of all of the general officers considered, regardless of gender.
These women are warriors in every sense of the word, and their physical and mental toughness clearly demonstrate that military women are capable of competing with and leading men when they sieze the baton and are given a shot. There should be no question going forward that women have the leadership and intellectual prowess required for the most challenging positions in the military.
