Free Republic

One of the first women to graduate from the Army's notoriously grueling Ranger School says she hopes her success will go toward proving that women in the military are capable of doing what men do. Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut said her successful completion of the elite, two-month program show that women "can deal with the same stresses and training that men can." Griest and First Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, will graduate at Fort Benning, Georgia, along with 94 men on Friday. Out of 19 women who began the program, Haver and Griest are the only...

The two female Ranger students left in Ranger School will be the first women to ever graduate from the grueling course Friday. Out of a total of 19 initial female students, two women will graduate come Friday at Fort Benning, Ga., and be allowed to wear the Ranger Tab, though because gender integration is still in the experimental phase, these women will not join the 75th Ranger Regiment, The Washington Post reports. After a quick, first assessment, the 19 female hopefuls were chopped down to just eight female students. All eight then proceeded to fail the Darby Phase twice. The...