Enter Captain Griest and First Lieutenant Haver, who, along with several other females, were attending Ranger School down at Fort Benning, Georgia. The word quickly went out. There would be one or two Lady Rangers presented to the world, in order to give Carter the ‘proof’ he needed to authorize women to serve in the combat arms and special operations forces of the US military.
As Griest and Haver went through the grueling course and then ‘graduated’, rumors began to seep out that they were being given special treatment in the form of dieticians, endless chances to repeat the school, multiple opportunities to pass patrols, showers every three days and pink curtained cat holes for privacy. Fueling the fire was their plump appearance at graduation. Normally, Ranger School males look like Japanese POW camp survivors on graduation day, strangely, the ladies looked well fed.
People Magazine reporter, Susan Keating seemed to confirm the rumors in her September, 2015 in article titled, ‘Was It Fixed? Army General Told Subordinates: ‘A Woman Will Graduate Ranger School,’ Sources Say.’
Keating’s story was quickly lambasted by former Ranger Training Brigade Commander, Colonel David Fivecoat and former Fort Benning Maneuver Center commander, General Scott Miller, who both adamantly claimed that there was no special treatment given to Griest and Haver, while demanding that Keating reveal her sources.
Instead of maintaining the standards, Fivecoat and Miller were more interested in persecuting whistleblowers.
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