Captain Kristen Griest will become the first ever U.S. Army female infantry officer. Recently she also became one of the first women to complete U.S. Army Ranger school and become an Army Ranger, earning her Ranger tab with fellow female 1st Lt. Shaye Haver last summer.
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On Thursday, she will graduate from the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course and will become the first woman to receive the blue infantry cord.
Many women will follow suit, as 22 female cadets have requested to join as second lieutenants in the infantry and armor branches of the U.S. Army. After the request, they will have to go through training to qualify for their respective groups.
Through an exception to Army policy, female lieutenants will be given the opportunity during an eight week timeframe to branch transfer into the infantry or armor if they meet requirements.
These 2 should be women of the year not CaitlynJenner #myopinion Capt. Kristen Griest & 1st Lt. Shaye Haver #badass pic.twitter.com/CtpljEWZSC
— angie mclaren (@mcLaren_angie) November 1, 2015
The U.S Army Ranger School previously knocked down gender-based restrictions and Griest and Shaye Haver became the first two women to graduate from the school last August.
This was all a part of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s initiative back in December to open up all specialty branches of the military to women.
The Army is putting a “leaderfirst” based approach in place so that officers will be the first ones to join the infantry and armor units instead of enlisted soldiers being placed into operational units.
With Defense Secretary Carter’s decision, 220,000 positions will now be open to women. So far, three women have already signed up to eventually become a part of the infantry.
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