First women to graduate as US Army Rangers

The two women who passed Ranger School, both officers and West Point graduates who have not yet been identified, have already changed the opinions of some involved in the Ranger course.

The 62-day Ranger school includes three phases, each in a different part of the country: wooded areas of Fort Benning, the Appalachian mountains of north Georgia, and swamps in Florida.

The two women at Ranger school were pushed to their physical and mental limits while operating on minimal food and sleep for nearly four months, since they had to recycle the first phase of training twice before passing.

Army officials said that they wanted them to be able to focus on what is widely considered to be one of the US military’s most challenging course without the distraction that could come with having their names publicized.

Two women have now passed the U.S. Army’s grueling Ranger test, and even tougher and more unsafe jobs could lie ahead.

It’s the first time a woman has completed the “Swamp Phase” to earn the Ranger tab. “All the women did the exact same thing as their male counterparts”, said Col. David G. Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Benning.

Army Secretary John McHugh congratulated the Army’s newest Ranger-qualified soldiers Monday evening in a prepared statement. A third female soldier remains in training, but the others have washed out. “We’re all very, very proud of her. It’s a tremendous achievement not only for her personally but for the Army and women in the military in general”.

We spoke to a local veteran who has graduated from Ranger school, and says he was surprised when he heard the news.

None of the eight women made it past the Darby Phase on the first try and were recycled, along with 101 of their male classmates, on May 8.

The female officers were allowed to go to Ranger School under a January 2013 order from then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

This was the first year the Army opened the course to women on a trial basis.

Bowman, a Vietnam veteran, questions if the women could serve in a combat capacity, a decision the Army has yet to make. In Iraq and Afghanistan, unconventional wars where the enemy wore no uniform and was largely invisible until the shooting began, female soldiers saw plenty of combat.

Barno said there has long been resistance to integrating the infantry, but he considers numerous objections to be based on flawed cultural arguments that men and women can not coexist in a battlefield environment.

The Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is also in the process of assessing whether women should be permitted to enter its training.