Name Kristen Griest | ||
 | ||
Allegiance United States of America Service/branch United States Army Military Police Similar Shaye Lynne Haver, Lisa Jaster, Leigh Ann Hester | ||
Fnn two women graduating ranger school in ft benning georgia
Kristen Marie Griest is one of the two first women, along with Shaye Lynne Haver, to ever graduate from the US Army Ranger School, which occurred on 21 August 2015. Griest and Haver were ranked 34th on Fortune magazine's 2016 list of the World's Greatest Leaders.
Contents
- Fnn two women graduating ranger school in ft benning georgia
- Early life and education
- Military career
- References
Early life and education
Griest attended a high school in Woodbridge, CT, where she ran track and played softball. She is a member of Orange Congregational Church in Orange, CT.
Military career
Griest graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2011. She also served in Afghanistan as a military police officer.
Griest began Ranger training in the spring of 2015 as part of a one-time pilot program to see how women would do in Ranger School. She started the course with 19 other women, marking the first time women have ever been allowed to participate through the course. At the culmination of 2 unsuccessful attempts to complete the first phase, all women had failed one requirement or another. Griest, along with Shaye Haver and one soldier still in training, was given the opportunity to start from the beginning, commonly referred to as a "Day 01" recycle. The three of them began training with Ranger Class 08-15.
When Griest graduated from Ranger school, the premier leadership course in the US Army, women were not allowed to serve in Ranger/Infantry roles due to the Pentagon's exclusion policies on women in combat. That policy changed on 3 December 2015 when Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the US military would open combat positions to women with no exception.
In 2016, Griest became the first female infantry officer in the US Army when the Army approved her request to transfer there from a military police unit.