Two women completed Ranger School and will become the first to wear the elite Ranger tab, the Army announced Monday night.
Graduation for the two women and 94 men to complete the swamp phase of training is scheduled for Friday at Fort Benning, Ga.
“Each Ranger School graduate has shown the physical and mental toughness to successfully lead organizations at any level. This course has proven that every soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential,” Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement.
The women will be able to wear the Ranger tab, but will not be allowed to join the 75th Ranger regiment.
The Army ran the first gender-integrated Ranger course to help examine which, if any, combat jobs should remain closed to women. The Pentagon must ask for waivers for any jobs that will remain closed after Jan. 1.
Gen. Raymond Odierno, the former chief of staff of the Army who retired over the weekend, said the service would likely run another gender integrated Ranger class in November.
The two women who completed Ranger school began the course April 20. They passed the first portion of the course at Fort Benning on the third try and the mountain phase of training in northern Georgia on the first try before moving to the swamp phase in Florida.
