Female Soldiers Complete Ranger School in Major Milestone for Women in Combat

Two women have passed the Army's elite Ranger School, marking a major milestone in the military's ongoing efforts to consider formally integrating women into all aspects of combat after a decade of war that thrust female troops toward the front lines.

The achievement of the two soldiers, known only as of Tuesday as two West Point graduates, proves that women are capable of passing the Army's most grueling ground combat leadership course without any alterations to the governing standards. They and their 94 fellow male graduates will now be allowed to wear the coveted black and gold tab after a graduation ceremony.

Female candidates in Ranger School has been a key goal of the military-wide effort to study how it could integrate women into all positions previously closed off to them. In a policy first announced by then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta two years ago, each branch must determine before the end of this year whether it will ask for exemptions on allowing women into any of its units, or must otherwise open them all.

"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. "We owe soldiers the opportunity to serve successfully in any position where they are qualified and capable, and we continue to look for ways to select, train, and retain the best soldiers to meet our nation's needs."

Completing the Ranger course does not automatically qualify any candidates to serve in the elite 75th Ranger Regiment -- a special operations unit -- which requires a separate assessment and selection course. Nor does it guarantee that women will ever be allowed to serve in any of the three Ranger Battalions or in any other combat units at all, as the Army could still formally justify why those jobs should remain closed to women.

The Marine Corps has similarly experimented with allowing women to try to complete its elite Infantry Officers Course in recent months, though none has come close to completion.

A total of 19 women started the Ranger course in April alongside 381 men. Eight of them passed the initial weed-out phase, but failed subsequent courses. Three were recycled into a later class of Ranger students, where one failed during the so-called "Mountain Phase" and will restart training again in August.

"Ranger School is the Army's premier combat leadership course, teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress to lead soldiers during small unit combat operations," according to a Department of Defense statement.

The graduation ceremony will take place on Aug. 21. at Fort Benning, Georgia. Rumors President Barack Obama would attend the commencement turned out to be false.