The first female graduates of the Army's Ranger School offered their initial public comments Thursday on their experiences breaking through that gender barrier, citing a mix of elation and exhaustion after an ordeal that one described as "the hardest days of my life."
But even as the two prepared to receive the Army's prestigious Ranger tab, leaders of the elite training program sought to quell a quiet backlash among alumni and veterans convinced that the women were given unique breaks.
First Lts. Kristen Griest, 26, and Shaye Haver, 25, took questions for about an hour from reporters at Fort Benning, Ga., after enduring a 61-day course that involved parachuting, mountaineering and grueling tests of physical endurance.
Both said they had doubts that they could graduate, and they felt pressure to prove to their male counterparts that they could perform.
"I think I had like three of the hardest days of my life each week at Ranger School," Griest said. "Every day I was like, 'No, this is the hardest day of my life.'"
Griest, who will be promoted today to captain, is a 2011 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York and a military police officer. Haver is a 2013 graduate of West Point and an Apache helicopter pilot.
Haver, from Texas, said the women were dispersed during Ranger training and did not turn to each other for support. She described her efforts as more of a personal challenge than any effort to shatter a gender barrier.
"It was never about the women trying to beat the men through Ranger School," Haver said.
The women were among 20 female soldiers who qualified to take the first gender-integrated Ranger School course beginning April 20. They are the only ones so far to reach the finish line, although a third are still eligible.
Both failed the difficult first phase of the course twice but were allowed to start over -- a so-called Day 1 recycle -- in an unusual accommodation that has prompted criticism online from those who claim the women received special consideration that men rarely get.
The persistent strain of criticism, which began after women were admitted to the Ranger School but intensified as it became clear that at least two would finish, led leaders of the program to take the unusual step of issuing a defiant response on a Ranger-affiliated Facebook page.
Maj. Gen. A. Scott Miller, the commanding officer at Fort Benning, denied that he had granted any favors to the women or otherwise sought to influence the outcome. Instead, he cited the female soldiers' success as proof that women can compete even in the military's most arduous settings.
"I think we've shown that it's not exclusively a male domain here," said Miller, who served in the elite 75th Ranger Regiment and was among the U.S. forces involved in Somalia in the operation depicted in the movie Black Hawk Down.
Among the rumors faced by leaders of the Ranger School this week were that the students in the latest course had been given more sleep than usual, that President Barack Obama planned to attend today's graduation ceremony and that Miller had accompanied the candidates on training patrols.
All were cited on social media and in blogs as evidence that instructors were under pressure to ensure that females passed. But officials said the claims were wrong.
"We've shown that two women can make it through," Miller said, acknowledging that the decision to admit women sparked controversy and led to heightened scrutiny of the latest iteration of the Ranger course.
"This was an emotional event," Miller said. "And when you have an emotional event, sometimes it brings out the best and sometimes it brings out the worst in us."
The decision to admit women was part of a broader effort to evaluate female soldiers' abilities as the various armed services are pushed by Defense Department leaders to allow women to serve in combat units and roles.
A Section on 08/21/2015