Army to open Ranger School to female soldiers

Less than two weeks after two women made history by successfully completing Ranger School, the U.S. Army has officially opened its premier combat leadership course to female soldiers.

The school started in 1951 as a way to train elite Army forces. In April, it was open to women for the first time on a test basis. On Aug. 21, Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to earn Ranger tabs, a distinction held by less than 3 percent of the Army. Griest and Haver were part of a gender-integration pilot program that included 19 women soldiers, 16 of whom were dropped from the course at various stages.

A third woman could earn her tab later this month if she successfully completes the final phase of the course in the Florida swamps near Destin. Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade officials will know in less than two weeks if the soldier, a mother of two children, will graduate on Sept. 18.

Sue Fulton is chairperson of the U.S. Military Academy Board of Visitors and graduated in the first West Point class to include women in 1980. She credits Griest, Haver and the third woman still in the school — all West Point graduates — with informing the Army’s decision to open the course to all qualified soldiers.

“There is no way the Army makes this decision without women having proven they could meet the arduous standards of Ranger School,” Fulton said. “The accomplishments of these three women have demonstrated there are women soldiers who have the courage, strength and will to meet the Ranger standard.”

Under a January 2013 edict, remaining all-male positions will be opened to women unless Defense Secretary Ash Carter approves exceptions by January 2016. Carter said last month that he expects to see recommendations from the service branches, including the Army, by October.

Details of how Ranger School will be open to both genders have not been released. Officials at Fort Benning, where the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade is headquartered, referred all questions to the Pentagon. The Army had previously announced that the school would open a class in November to female students.

Chief of Staff of Army Gen. Mark A. Milley said in the statement that the decision was about combat readiness.

“Giving every qualified soldier the opportunity to attend the Ranger Course, the Army’s premier small unit leadership school, ensures we are maintaining our combat readiness today, tomorrow and for future generations,” said Milley, who was at Fort Benning for the historic graduation and met briefly with Griest and Haver.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Smith, whose final assignment was with the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Benning, said he was not surprised by the decision to open the school to women.

“The two women who have earned the tab have opened the door for this,” Smith said. “There is no question in my mind about that. They have shown it can be done and it is an achievable goal. And they did it with great intestinal fortitude, determination and tremendous dedication.”

Author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon wrote about women in combat roles in the New York Times best seller “Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield.” A group of women were quietly assembled and specially trained in 2010 and 2011 to work with the Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan. First Lt. Ashley White, a member of the North Carolina National Guard, was killed on Oct. 22, 2011, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province while on a raid with the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Lemon said she is not surprised that women earned the Ranger tab, but she is surprised at how swiftly the Army has moved to open the school.

“I am surprised by how quickly they have changed the tenor of the conversation,” Lemmon said of Griest and Haver earning the tab. “It has gone from ‘whether they can meet the standards’ to ‘let them meet the standards.’ Truth be told, I think this is America catching up with what has been the battlefield reality.”

Griest and Haver played a critical role in that, Lemmon said.

“They had the opportunity to show the country on the home soil what women are capable of and it has changed a lot of hearts and minds,” Lemmon said.

Smith, who owns and operates Uncommon Athlete, a downtown Columbus fitness facility that offers a pre-Ranger School training program, said other women will now earn the Ranger tab.

“There will be more,” he said. “I don’t think it will open the floodgates. But there are women ready to do this.”

Lemmon agrees.

“I have talked to six to eight women in recent days who will be going to Ranger School,” Lemmon said. “The two new Rangers have opened the world to a whole group of people who until now thought about going to Ranger School only in the abstract.”

Fulton said that Wednesday’s announcement is an historic moment in the Army.

“I believe this is as important to the Army as was the 1980 graduation of women from West Point,” Fulton said. “The Army is going to be stronger because talented and capable soldiers who happen to be women can now contribute to their fullest.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Army to open Ranger School to female soldiers."