She is the first female United States Army officer to be trained to lead troops into combat. Captain Kristen Griest has recently completed training at the elite Army Ranger School and will be sent for additional training which will make her the first woman Army officer that will be allowed into combat.
She is the first woman to be an Army infantry officer and this is seen as the Army looking to integrate women more seriously into combat roles. All she needs to do is complete a tactical training course at Fort Benning. Griest had requested a transfer to the infantry from her previous role with the military police and her request was finally granted on Monday. She will be official once she has finished up her tactical training at Fort Benning as is required of all Army infantry officers.
Women had previously served at the front lines but were never allowed to take on direct combat roles. That all changed last December when Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered the Pentagon to open up all service jobs to women including combat. In all, that order opened up an additional 220,000 jobs to women that had not been available before. Any job that had been only available to males are now also available to females regardless of the job.
The Army insisted that it is being pragmatic about it all and going slowly during this time of transition. It stated that Captain Griest was being held to the exact standards of training that any of the male officers are. Captain Griest and First Lt. Shay Haver became the first women to get through Ranger school. The women said they we not given any special treatment by anyone including their fellow male officers or the instructors.
“I do hope that with our performance in Ranger school,” Captain Griest said, “we’ve been able to inform that decision as to what they can expect from women in the military. We can handle things, physically and mentally, on the same level as men.”
PHOTO SOURCE: U.S. Army