Kristen Griest on Course to Become First Female Army Officer Trained to Lead Troops Into Combat

By Katie Rogers, Reprinted from the The New York Times

Kristen Griest was among the first women to ever graduate from the Army’s elite Ranger school, and after Thursday, she will become the first woman able to lead an infantry unit into combat.

Her graduation from the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Fort Benning, Ga., qualifies her for duty as an infantry officer after being approved for infantry duty earlier this week. She is joining a branch of the Army that had long been considered the last bastion of traditionally male combat roles, and with the move, the Army has crossed another barrier in its promise to consider women for all roles without exception.

“She’s going to go on and serve the rest of her career, however long it may be, as an infantry officer,” Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk, an Army spokesman, said on Thursday. “Her road is far from done; it is just more in line with what she feels her aspirations are.”

Unofficially, women had served on the deadly front line for years, but they were barred from direct combat in roles such as tank or infantry officer until December 2015, when Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced that the Pentagon would allow women in all military roles, with no exceptions, opening up about 220,000 military jobs.

“They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat,” Mr. Carter said. “They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men.”

Colonel Pionk stressed that the Army was being “deliberate and methodical” during a “major cultural shift” in opening roles to women, and that Captain Griest was evaluated by the same standards as a male officer requesting a transfer.

“This isn’t really about putting women into infantry and armor branches,” he said. “We are at a time and a place in the world where we need to have the best leaders from everywhere, and that includes women.”

Still, the option for Captain Griest to move into her current role was not available as recently as last summer, when she made history along with First Lt. Shaye Haver by graduating from the grueling Ranger school. Both women said that they had not received any special treatment.

“I do hope that with our performance in Ranger school we’ve been able to inform that decision as to what they can expect from women in the military,” Captain Griest told reporters after her graduation. “We can handle things physically and mentally on the same level as men.”

As Captain Griest moves forward in her career, the Army is creating a path forward for younger female cadets who want to be trained to lead in branches that were previously unavailable. This spring, 13 female cadets were approved to enter armor, and nine were approved for infantry, Colonel Pionk said.

“We’re at the point where we’re now starting to branch women who want to go,” he added.

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