Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley congratulates 1st Lt. Shaye Haver for...... read more read more
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - For the first time in Army history, two female Soldiers have pinned on Ranger tabs, and that has Soldiers across Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall talking.
“They have shown the rest of us female Soldiers that we can accomplish anything that our brothers can, we just have to try,” said Sgt. Isabel Mack, who is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company S-1 on the Fort Myer portion of the Joint Base. “Also, it’s inspiring to me because despite what others thought, that they wouldn’t make it, they never gave up.”
According to an article on Army.mil, 1st Lt. Shaye L. Haver and Capt. Kristen M. Griest, who both graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, were among 96 Soldiers who graduated from Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Aug. 21.
“Actually, I think it’s pretty cool,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Charles, who is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company S-3. “It switches up the norm, that’s the world we’re in now. It’s showing equality.”
Haver, an AH-64 pilot, said she wanted to go to Ranger training simply because it was the best training the Army can provide.
“I think if females continue to come to this course, they can be encouraged by what we have accomplished, but hopefully they’re encouraged by the legacy that the Ranger community has left,” she said during an Aug. 20 press conference.
Griest, a military police officer, said she personally knows a lot of female Soldiers who are interested in becoming Rangers, but weren’t able to attend the most recent Ranger assessment that she and Haver graduated from.
“... I know many very qualified women that I can think of that could pass the course or at least make a very good attempt,” she said. “I would encourage them to go. And I would say keep doing what they are doing. They are motivated. It is definitely more of a mental challenge than physical. If you mentally know you want to get through – and you have to want to get through – you will make it.”
According to the Army.mil article, since Ranger school opened in 1950, only 77,000 Soldiers have earned the Ranger tab. Of the 4,057 Soldiers who attempted the course in 2014, only 1,609 tacked on the tab.
“It is a tough course that takes courage and commitment to complete,” said Staff Sgt. Allan Springer, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
Springer said he knows of other female service members who are performing well in other Special Forces units.
“Although the ‘differences in body mechanics’ conversation between males and females is a real one to have, I feel that as long as they can perform at the level needed to be in that specialty, then let them be,” he said. “I think that time will tell if this is a decision that the military needs to keep going with. We are an ever-changing force that needs to be adaptable to what may come in the future.”
The Army plans to run another Ranger School assessment in November that will also be open to women. Three female Marines were the first women to graduate from the Corps’ School of Infantry in 2013 - another first.
In related news, the Navy announced in 2013 that enlisted female Sailors would be allowed to attend the Navy’s special warfare training – Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) and Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen (SWCC) – next March, while female commissioned Navy officers would have the opportunity to attend the training next June, according to a Navy news article. More recently, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert told the Navy Times Aug. 19 that the service is “on a track to say, ‘Hey, look anybody who can meet the gender non-specific standards, then you can become a SEAL.’”
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.03.2015 17:00 |
| Story ID: | 175213 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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