1st female Army infantry officer says lower fitness standards for women put troops in danger
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In a new essay published Thursday, Capt. Kristen Griest, the first U.S. Army infantry officer, said lowering Army fitness standards could hurt the Army’s combat readiness and reduces the trust female soldiers can expect from their fellow soldiers.
In her essay for West Point’s Modern War Institute, Griest, who also became the first of three women to earn the Army Ranger Tab, said creating a separate fitness standard for women would reduce the overall effectiveness of Army combat units.
Referring to a proposed standard for women to run a two-mile test in under 21 minutes, Griest said “the presence of just a handful of individuals who cannot run two miles faster than twenty-one minutes has the potential to derail a training exercise, not to mention an actual combat patrol. Entire companies of 130 soldiers will be forced to frequently halt operations in order to medically