First 10 Women Graduate From Infantry Officer Course | Military.com: 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.
