By Steve DeVane
The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) As Steve DeVane reports, “the soldier likely will be assigned to a Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha, or A-team. Each team has 12 soldiers with varied specialties.”
Fayetteville
For the first time, a female soldier has graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course, U.S. Army Special Operations Command officials said.
The soldier, who was not identified, received her Special Forces Tab and donned her Green Beret alongside her classmates during a ceremony Thursday at Fort Bragg, according to a statement released by USASOC.
Lt. Gen. Fran Beaudette, USASOC commander, said each and every one of the graduates demonstrated the ability to meet the baseline standards and competencies for admission to Special Forces.
“From here, you will go forward and join the storied formation of the Green Berets where you will do what you are trained to do: challenge assumptions, break down barriers, smash through stereotypes, innovate and achieve the impossible,” he said. “Thankfully, after today, our Green Beret men and women will forever stand in the hearts of free people everywhere.”
USASOC does not release the names of service members in training or assigned to its units due to unique missions assigned upon graduation, according to the statement.
The Associated Press reported that the woman is one of three female soldiers who have been going through the qualification course. Defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, told the news service that she is a member of the National Guard.
The soldier likely will be assigned to a Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha, or A-team. Each team has 12 soldiers with varied specialties.
Army officials announced in November 2018 that a woman passed the Special Forces Assessment and Selection for the first time. The rigorous, 24-day assessment tests mental and physical stamina and is thought to be one of the U.S. military’s most grueling selection processes.
Special Forces units are deployed around the world demonstrating their “unconventional warfare expertise,” according to the USASOC website. The soldiers help with humanitarian assistance efforts and train indigenous forces, but also can take direct action and perform special reconnaissance missions, it said.
___
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
