FORT BENNNING, Ga. (AP) — A pilot of attack helicopters who competed in triathlons and a wilderness enthusiast who became a military police officer because it was the closest she could get to a combat job are the first women to finish the Army's elite Ranger School.

In a joint statement, their families say 25-year-old 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, and 26-year-old Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, are "just like all the soldiers" graduating this week from the grueling two-month Ranger course.

Griest and Haver are "happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep" before they line up Friday at Fort Benning alongside 94 male soldiers who also earned the coveted black-and-gold Ranger tab to adorn their uniforms.
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