First two female Rangers showing ‘quiet professionalism’

When Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver left Fort Benning, Ga.’s, Victory Pond nearly two months ago as the first women to sport the prestigious Ranger tab, many people expected to see them on magazine covers and making the television talk show rounds.

It hasn’t happened.

The two women, both U.S. Military Academy graduates, have gone back to their military jobs, while turning down dozens of interview requests.

“I know for a fact that every major network, not just CNN and MSNBC, tried to get them to agree to interviews on camera,” said Kris Raymer Fuhr, a 1985 West Point graduate who has been a mentor to the female graduates. “Magazines, major papers — you name it. They politely declined, even when a network news anchor asked them personally, because they wanted to get back to soldiering. They could’ve been celebrities, but they want to be soldiers.”

That is the bar that has been set as a third woman joins the club Friday. Maj. Lisa Jaster, a 37-year-old engineer and mother of children ages 3 and 7, will be awarded the tab along with 87 men during a ceremony that begins at 11 a.m. at Victory Pond. Jaster differs from Griest and Haver, who are active duty, in that she is an Army reservist with a day job as an engineer for Shell Oil in Houston. But Jaster is similar to Griest and Haver in that she is also a West Point graduate.

Jaster seems to be following the same pattern, turning down a media request to photograph Wednesday’s reunion with her family outside the gate of Camp Rogers.

Haver and Griest have drawn praise for the way they have handled their newfound celebrity. Haver is an attack helicopter pilot stationed at Fort Carson, Colo. Since earning the Ranger tab, she has completed Airborne School at Fort Benning and is back in Colorado preparing for deployment.

Griest is a military police officer who has been stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. She is preparing to return to Fort Benning for the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course, a nearly six-month course primarily for Army armor and infantry officers.

“Rangers are known to be quiet professionals,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Smith, who was the top non-commisioned officer at the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade until he retired in May 2012. “To this point, I have been impressed that Capt. Griest and 1st Lt. Haver have chosen to be quiet professionals.”

And they have been quiet in the face of critics who have questioned if they were given special treatment to complete the most demanding combat leadership training offered by the Army. Congressman Steve Russell, an Oklahoma Republican who himself earned the Ranger tab in his 22-year military career, has requested records pertaining to the women who graduated from Ranger School. The day Haver and Griest graduated, he was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article questioning whether they deserved to be there.

“I’m opposed to lowering the fitness standards for women just to score political points,” Russell told the newspaper. “There are some things they simply cannot do. I know I run the risk of being called a chauvinist pig by saying that.”

Throughout the entire process, Army officials — including Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commander of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning; Col. David G. Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade; and Command Sgt. Maj. Curtis Arnold of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade — have maintained the standards were not lowered. When Jaster graduates, she will become the third of 20 women with slots in the pilot April 19 class of Ranger School. That’s 15 percent, far below the just under 50 percent of men who graduate Ranger School.

Donna McAleer, a 1987 West Point graduate who authored “Porcelain on Steel: Women of West Point’s Long Gray Line,” said that Griest, 26, and Haver, 25, have been smart to remain quiet in the face of Russell’s questioning of the Army’s top leadership about the process that produced women graduates.

“By doing that, they have demonstrated their strength of character, commitment and respect,” McAleer said. “They have shown that their actions speak louder than words. The fact that they have not engaged in the discussion shows physical strength and mental discipline. That is what we want from our military leaders.”

While Griest and Haver have not been on the media tour, they have attended high-profile military events, including recent trips to West Point and Washington D.C. They are also expected to be at Fort Benning to attend Jaster’s graduation. The three women were in the same Ranger School cycles until late July when Haver and Griest moved to Florida and Jaster repeated the mountain phase in north Georgia.

Sue Fulton, chairwoman of the West Point Board of Visitors and a member of the first academy class to include women in 1980, said the events Griest and Haver have attended made perfect sense.

“Capt. Griest and Lt. Haver visited West Point because they wanted to support the Challenged Athletes Foundation bike ride from the Intrepid in New York City to West Point,” Fulton said. “At the last minute, they thought it was appropriate to notify the senior leaders at West Point, who asked if they’d be willing to answer questions from cadets interested in Ranger School.”

And what happened next is what has been happening for two months — praise and a lot of pictures with those who ask.

“That led to them being introduced at lunch in the mess hall, and the cadets went nuts cheering for them,” said Fulton. “But it wasn’t intended to be a public appearance. The senior staff told me that they specifically requested no media, including social media.”

Last weekend, as Jaster was completing the final part of the patrol process to earn her tab, Haver and Griest were in Washington. Rita Callan Flaherty, a 1994 West Point graduate, saw them at the national convention of the Association of the United States Army, a non-profit advocacy group for the Army.

“The Ranger women were gracious, humble and generous,” Flaherty said. “They politely refused to pose for the Army Times photographer, but never turned down a request from a cadet, soldier, NCO or officer for a handshake, a photo or a chat. I have to say I was touched by the number of hard-charging senior male Rangers — sergeants major and field grade officers — who went out of their way to lean in, shake their hands, and say ‘Rangers Lead the Way.’ ”

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 11:05 PM with the headline "First two female Rangers showing ‘quiet professionalism’."