From the very start of the integration and assessment of women at Ranger School, my biggest hope for the United States was that it would let the other half of its population, women, serve their country, train, and fight to their fullest capability. What is so wrong with that idea? The first three women had come to the Mountain Phase of the US Army Ranger School struggling against so many obstacles, and now two of the three women were moving forward to the final phase-Swamp Phase-down at Eglin Air Force Base, FL.

Honestly, I was already packing my bags to go back to Fort Benning to watch them graduate; I knew they were going to make it. About two weeks later, my team and I got the word that they had passed their last portions of testing and they were set to graduate on August 21, 2015. As I drove down to Fort Benning, I was personally the happiest I had ever been in my Army career. I do not think I could have survived the hateful words on social media if they had not made it. I thought it would have sent women around the world back to the stone ages where we were condemned to own no property, no right to vote, and have no voice in anything outside the home. I pushed the thoughts from my head. Astonishingly, however, there were still voices of disbelief, hate, and, yes, rape and death threats toward the female students.

I sat in Starbucks reading the paper that morning and headlines stated that though women were graduating Ranger School, the debate of whether they belonged in combat or the infantry was still unsettled. Up until this point, the current secretary of defense had not yet lifted the combat exclusion law that prohibited women in direct ground combat and into infantry units or the Ranger Regiment. Many from the Ranger Regiment said that it was no big deal that women graduated Ranger School and that it did not mean they were true Rangers. True Rangers served in the Regiment and women would never be allowed to go there. I thought to myself, well, we will wait and see; I was just too happy at the moment to let the haters get to me. Women were graduating Ranger School today for the first time in history!

My mother had decide to join me for the historical moment, and I could not have been prouder as I escorted her to the ceremonies. I spotted my fellow Observer/Advisors (OAs) gathering around the bleachers. They told me that apparently the death threats were real and may even be coming from a veteran motorcycle group in the local area. The provost marshal of Fort Benning was not taking any chances; they had the Military Police bomb dogs sweeping the area before anyone arrived, and they checked guest’s bags before anyone entered the premises. I was happy for the extra protection, but also disappointed by the fact that it was even necessary; I also hated that my mother had to experience that shameful behavior of my fellow veterans who should be supporting the right of their future daughters to receive the best training the Army had to offer.

Much to my surprise, the two female graduates, CPT Griest and 1LT Haver, were walking right toward us as we walked up. I was star-struck! I wanted so badly to hug and scream for them, but I played it cool. I calmly said hey and congratulated them and asked if they had seen their families yet. They were not sure if they had arrived, so I asked for a picture with them. I was so happy that they obliged. Both of them were clearly very tired and thin, but humble in their extraordinary accomplishment. Neither of them knew that I was their ultimate fan girl.

Just days before the graduation, speculation was circulating that the then current President of the United States Barrack Obama was going to be in attendance. The rumor was that if Obama had been planning to attend, then the graduation must have been rigged to automatically pass the female students. Conservative media considered the whole Ranger assessment a liberal or Obama administration agenda, thus they were against the progressive move for women at Ranger School just because they disliked Obama and his agenda.  Obama never showed up, needless to say, but I am so thankful that he and former Secretary of Defense Leon Pannetta gave women in the US Army the opportunity to tackle this mountain and prove to the world that women have what it takes. If they had not made this a priority, I shudder to think where women would be today in the military.

The commanding general of the US Army Maneuvers Center of Excellence MAJ GEN Scott Miller addressed the crowd at the Ranger graduation Class 08-15 beautifully, especially concerning the idea that the standards may have somehow been lowered for the female students to graduate. He reiterated that five miles is still five miles, the mountains are still intact, and the swamps are still the swamps. It was a beautiful way of saying that there was no way that the Ranger School staff would have been able to remove or minimize the standards and the literal obstacles and challenges at Ranger School. The culmination of sleep deprivation and hunger could not have been withheld. I was so happy that the Ranger Training Brigade had gotten behind this amazing cause, and though to me there had been some silliness and things I disagreed with along the way, I truly believe that many of these Rangers had women’s best interest at heart. They too had suffered harsh criticism in women’s defense, and they handled it professionally.

There was a media panel the day before the graduation that featured the female students along with some of the male students in their class. They each spoke about their experiences at the school, and I found it so heart warming when one of the male students stated that one of the female students had helped him pass. He said it with such authenticity, and it proved to me their was true unit cohesion among this group. It takes a lot for a young, tough man to admit on national television that a woman helped him succeed at Ranger School.

After the Rangers pinned their tabs on the sides of their arm, the excitement was palatable as a group of former female West Point graduates had formed and were cheering at the top of their lungs. The two female students came up the bleachers to be encircled in the bliss of their success, and we took an iconic picture. Everyone cheered over and over again, and they sang the West Point song together! (Both of the female Ranger graduates were also West Point alumni.)

Admittedly, this was far from the end of the story for women at Ranger School, even for the two women who had just graduated. A congressman and former Ranger petitioned the school for the two females’ training records so that he personally could scrutinize the results, but the records had been destroyed like the other male students’ records had been; it was standard protocol at the school. The Ranger School did this to protect everyone involved, including the graders whose names did not need to be released to be shamed for their findings. Regardless, two women had graduated the school, and I personally knew they had done it to the standard; they had crushed it! I could now carry my head high because I had the answers I needed. Women do have the physical, emotional, and psychological strength to survive the US Army Ranger School!

The views expressed in this blog are not the views and opinions of the US Army or US Army Ranger School or any Department of Defense or any affiliate organization. All views and opinions are my own.

~Lesley