UK Edition
First woman in US army qualifies to lead troops in battle
The US army has for the first time appointed a female infantry commander, ending centuries of tradition which prevented women from taking frontline combat roles.
Captain Kristen Griest had already made history last summer by becoming one of the first women to qualify as an Army Ranger – a member of their elite special forces unit.
Her new role means that she can lead male and female soldiers into battle – one of the last male-only bastions of the army.
In the UK, women are still barred from the infantry, Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps.
And in the US the job was only opened to her in December, when Ashton Carter, the defence secretary, announced that the Pentagon would allow women into all military roles, with no exceptions. Infantry and tank officer roles were among the last ones to be only open to men.
“This isn’t really about putting women into the infantry and armour branches,” said Lt. Colonel Jerry Pionk, an army spokesman. “We are at a time and place in the world where we need to have the best leaders from everywhere, and that includes women.”
Capt Griest graduated from the Maneuver Captain's Career Course on Thursday. More women are expected to follow in her footsteps.
"Like any other officer wishing to branch-transfer, Capt Griest applied for an exception to army policy to transfer from military police to infantry," said Bob Purtiman, a spokesman for the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, Georgia. "Her transfer was approved by the department of the army and she's now an infantry officer."
In August Capt Griest and First Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to graduate from Ranger School. A third soldier, Maj. Lisa Jaster, graduated two months later.
Capt Griest, a 2011 West Point graduate who grew up in Connecticut, has since kept a low profile, shying away from media attention. She has refused interviews, but dozens of fake social media profiles have sprung up in her name.
“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,” said Capt Griest last summer.
“We can handle things physically and mentally on the same level as men.”