Posted on Oct 27, 2016
First 10 Women Graduate From Infantry Officer Course
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Ten female lieutenants completed the first step in becoming U.S. Army infantry platoon leaders on Wednesday by graduating from the first gender-integrated class of Infantry Officer Basic Leader Course.
Twelve women started the 17-week course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and 10 met the standards to graduate alongside 156 male classmates.
"The training of an infantry lieutenant is a process until they step in front of that rifle platoon, and this is but the very first step in that process," Lt. Col. Matthew Weber, battalion commander of the course, told reporters Wednesday at Fort Benning. "It's a critical one because we are very much focused on training and preparing the soldiers, the lieutenants, to ultimately lead a rifle platoon."
The graduation of first 10 women from the infantry course comes a little more than a year after Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to graduate Army Ranger School in August 2015. Maj. Lisa A. Jaster became the third woman to graduate from a gender-integrated Ranger course two months later.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December ordered all military jobs, including special operations, opened to women. His directive followed a 2013 Pentagon order that the military services open all positions to women by early 2016.
Army officials maintain that it hasn't taken long for gender integration to become the norm in training.
"We have been integrating women into the military for years; they have fought and bled beside us for years," said Maj. Gen. Eric Wesley, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. "This is an important moment, but this is something that is in many ways business as usual."
Fort Benning officials would not release the names of the 10 female graduates. Their next stop is Ranger School, Weber said.
Then, whether they are successful or not, they will go into other courses, including Airborne School, Striker Leader Course and then Mechanized Leader Course -- a process that will take about a year to complete.
"Once they have completed all those courses, then we will have deemed them fit to lead whatever type formation out in [Forces Command] and they will depart Fort Benning," Weber said.
Female infantry officers will leave Fort Benning and go to Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Wesley said.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has directed that gender-integration first focus on leaders at those two installations, Wesley said.
"We are priming the pump and enabling success by initially focusing on two installations and then ultimately they will start to migrate out to other installations," he said.
Griest and Haver are following the same path.
Griest, a military police officer from Connecticut, was granted transfer to the infantry branch April 25, 2016. Haver, an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot from Arizona, has been approved to transfer into the infantry, and "we are still awaiting final word on when that is going to come down," said Brig. Gen. Peter Jones, commandant of the Infantry School.
"Upfront, I will tell you this makes us a better Army and the reason it makes us a better Army is that this whole issue has driven us -- it has been a forcing function, to ensure that we had the right standards aligned to each occupational specialty in the Army," Wesley said.
Establishing gender-neutral standards has been the "culmination of two years of different work done by Training and Doctrine Command, with physical scientists looking at what is the physiology of moving weight and what is the difference between infantrymen and field artillerymen?" Jones said.
"We have the scientific data that shows these are the propensity skills that you have to do and the physiology to do those."
Benning officials maintain that gender integration has not lowered standards.
"There has been no change in the standards," said Infantry Officer Basic Leader Course Command Sgt. Major Joe Davis. "There is no change in the course ... we are in the business of producing leaders. It doesn't matter if they are male or females."
Twelve women started the 17-week course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and 10 met the standards to graduate alongside 156 male classmates.
"The training of an infantry lieutenant is a process until they step in front of that rifle platoon, and this is but the very first step in that process," Lt. Col. Matthew Weber, battalion commander of the course, told reporters Wednesday at Fort Benning. "It's a critical one because we are very much focused on training and preparing the soldiers, the lieutenants, to ultimately lead a rifle platoon."
The graduation of first 10 women from the infantry course comes a little more than a year after Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to graduate Army Ranger School in August 2015. Maj. Lisa A. Jaster became the third woman to graduate from a gender-integrated Ranger course two months later.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December ordered all military jobs, including special operations, opened to women. His directive followed a 2013 Pentagon order that the military services open all positions to women by early 2016.
Army officials maintain that it hasn't taken long for gender integration to become the norm in training.
"We have been integrating women into the military for years; they have fought and bled beside us for years," said Maj. Gen. Eric Wesley, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. "This is an important moment, but this is something that is in many ways business as usual."
Fort Benning officials would not release the names of the 10 female graduates. Their next stop is Ranger School, Weber said.
Then, whether they are successful or not, they will go into other courses, including Airborne School, Striker Leader Course and then Mechanized Leader Course -- a process that will take about a year to complete.
"Once they have completed all those courses, then we will have deemed them fit to lead whatever type formation out in [Forces Command] and they will depart Fort Benning," Weber said.
Female infantry officers will leave Fort Benning and go to Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Wesley said.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has directed that gender-integration first focus on leaders at those two installations, Wesley said.
"We are priming the pump and enabling success by initially focusing on two installations and then ultimately they will start to migrate out to other installations," he said.
Griest and Haver are following the same path.
Griest, a military police officer from Connecticut, was granted transfer to the infantry branch April 25, 2016. Haver, an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot from Arizona, has been approved to transfer into the infantry, and "we are still awaiting final word on when that is going to come down," said Brig. Gen. Peter Jones, commandant of the Infantry School.
"Upfront, I will tell you this makes us a better Army and the reason it makes us a better Army is that this whole issue has driven us -- it has been a forcing function, to ensure that we had the right standards aligned to each occupational specialty in the Army," Wesley said.
Establishing gender-neutral standards has been the "culmination of two years of different work done by Training and Doctrine Command, with physical scientists looking at what is the physiology of moving weight and what is the difference between infantrymen and field artillerymen?" Jones said.
"We have the scientific data that shows these are the propensity skills that you have to do and the physiology to do those."
Benning officials maintain that gender integration has not lowered standards.
"There has been no change in the standards," said Infantry Officer Basic Leader Course Command Sgt. Major Joe Davis. "There is no change in the course ... we are in the business of producing leaders. It doesn't matter if they are male or females."
First 10 Women Graduate From Infantry Officer Course
Posted from military.com
Women in the Military
Training
Military History
Posted >1 y ago
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I saw an article earlier with a lot of uh well "butthurt" under it. Honestly, if the person can meet/exceed the standard I say let them do it. Also for the men somehow connecting this into the lower PT standard for females, whip out those PT cards and do some comparisons. Plus, when's the last time you heard someone say they got out of a firefight by being able to max out their push-ups? Exactly. If you can shoot, move and communicate well you deserve the cord. And a lot of the "butthurt" infantrymen in my unit can't shoot their way out of a paperbag...
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Nobody hasn't gotten out of a firefight because of their pushups. However, someone who can do more pushups is stronger, has more endurance, and is less likely to sustain an injury when performing heavy labor for an extended period of time. Shooting, moving, and communicating is important...but you need to be able to shoot, move, and communicate with the group. A woman will have to be in exceptional shape to be able to compete with group of men in average physical condition. That means she will be exerting more effort to sustain the same base amount of physical exertion as her male counterparts. So that woman will experience fatigue faster, fatigue leads to a degraded ability to make decisions, and increases the likelihood of injury. It is all tied together.
To be successful in the Infantry, you have to be smart and be physically strong. The physical standards are higher in an actual unit than they are at a school. These women will be expected to physically out perform the majority of their male peers. This is because Infantry officers are expected to outperform the majority of their subordinates, especially at the platoon and company level. Since the percentage of women who can do this is a tiny portion of the population, it is unlikely they will be placed on career paths that lead to command positions leading combat troops. I see the majority of these women moving to staff positions and TRADOC command slots after their PL time.
To be successful in the Infantry, you have to be smart and be physically strong. The physical standards are higher in an actual unit than they are at a school. These women will be expected to physically out perform the majority of their male peers. This is because Infantry officers are expected to outperform the majority of their subordinates, especially at the platoon and company level. Since the percentage of women who can do this is a tiny portion of the population, it is unlikely they will be placed on career paths that lead to command positions leading combat troops. I see the majority of these women moving to staff positions and TRADOC command slots after their PL time.
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A leader is a leader. Sometimes they have chevrons. Sometimes they have butter bars. It does not matter, male or female. As long as the Objectives are accomplished as effectively as possible.
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Thanks for sharing SP5 Mark Kuzinski I graduated from IOBC in December 1980 at Fort Benning and IOAC at Fort Benning in the spring of 1985.
Graduation is the easy step in the process of leading soldiers in units. Next comes the hard part as these women leaders are introduced to infantry units as brand-new basic officer's-course graduates.
Graduation is the easy step in the process of leading soldiers in units. Next comes the hard part as these women leaders are introduced to infantry units as brand-new basic officer's-course graduates.
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