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Two Women Graduate From Army Ranger School - Carter Congratulates all Graduates

By Terri Moon Cronk, DoD News, Defense Media Activity
Photos courtesy DoD News, Defense Media Activity
Aug. 21, 2015

The women who passed through the Army’s elite leadership proving ground are trailblazers, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.

The two women, 1st Lt. Shaye Haver and Capt. Kristen Griest, along with 94 men, graduated today from the Army Ranger School, earning the Ranger tab.

“Like every Ranger serving today, help lead the finest fighting force the world has ever known,” Carter said, and called Ranger school graduation a credit for any man or woman who endures its intense training and curriculum.

The secretary noted that the military services are due to provide their reports Oct. 1 requesting any exceptions to the policy that opens combat jobs to women. Carter said he will make the final determination on that issue by the end of the year.

Additional Information by Army News Service
Ranger School is the Army's premier combat leadership course, teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger and stress to lead soldiers during small-unit combat operations.

The Ranger Course is a 62-day course on leadership and small unit tactics that pushes Ranger students to their mental and physical limits by forcing them to operate on minimal food and sleep. About 34 percent of students who enter Ranger School recycle at least one phase of the course.

"Congratulations to all of our new Rangers,” said Army Secretary John McHugh. “Each Ranger School graduate has shown the physical and mental toughness to successfully lead organizations at any level. This course has proven that every soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential. We owe soldiers the opportunity to serve successfully in any position where they are qualified and capable, and we continue to look for ways to select, train, and retain the best soldiers to meet our nation's needs,"

Three Environments
During the course, students learn how to operate in three different environments: woodlands in Fort Benning, mountainous terrain in Dahlonega, Georgia, and coastal swamp in Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Highlights of the course include a physical fitness test consisting of 49 push-ups, 59 sit-ups, a 5-mile run in 40 minutes six chin-ups; a swim test; a land navigation test; a 12-mile foot march in three hours; several obstacle courses; four days of military mountaineering; three parachute jumps; four air assaults on helicopters; multiple rubber boat movements; and 27 days of mock combat patrols.

About 165 men and two women began the training in the coastal swamps of Eglin Air Force Base on Aug. 1. Students selected to recycle the Swamp Phase will start the phase again Aug. 29.

Nineteen women and 381 men started Ranger Class 06-15 on April 20. Eight women successfully completed RAP week; however, all were recycled into Ranger Class 07-15 as Darby inserts for a second attempt at patrolling. After the second Darby Phase attempt, five were dropped from the course and three were given a Day One recycle into Ranger Class 08-15, starting the course again June 21.

These three women met the standards of the Benning Phase and moved on to the Mountain Phase on July 10. All three women passed the knot test, military mountaineering skills assessment and the foot movement up Mount Yonah, and they were given opportunities to lead patrols. One woman recycled into Ranger Class 09-15 to start the Mountain Phase again Aug. 9.

Two women received a passing grade in the mountains during platoon level combat patrols and moved on to the Swamp Phase on Aug. 1. The two women also met the standards of the Swamp Phase, proficiently leading waterborne platoon level combat patrols