First woman graduates from Army sniper school

A Montana Army National Guard soldier last week became the first woman ever to complete the Army’s grueling, seven-week sniper course.

The infantry soldier, which the Army did not identify by name, graduated on Nov. 5 from the U.S. Army Sniper Course at Fort Benning, Ga., service officials announced Monday.

She joined the Guard in December 2020 and began the sniper course in September after her training staff and chain of command recommended her “due to her superior performance,” according to a Montana National Guard press release.

“We’re all incredibly proud of her,” said Capt. Joshua O’Neill, the soldier’s company commander during infantry training. “She epitomizes what it means to be an infantry Soldier and there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that she would succeed in the U.S. Army Sniper Course.”

The U.S. military in 2015 opened all combat jobs to women. Since then, several female soldiers have made history by becoming the first to graduate from the Army’s intense Ranger School, or complete the Army’s elite Special Forces course and join the Green Berets.

Outside the Army, in July a female sailor for the first time successfully completed the Navy’s intense 37-week course to become a Naval Special Warfare combatant-craft crewman, the boat operators who move Navy SEALs and carry out their own classified missions on the seas.

The Army’s sniper course, meant to form “the most feared weapon on the battlefield” out of a soldier, tests students on “field craft, marksmanship, mission planning, advanced situational awareness, urban operations, complex engagements and building collective lethality to create an unfair fight in favor of the sniper team,” according to the course’s description.

Maj. Gen. J. Peter Hronek, Montana’s Adjutant General, said the female soldier “had to volunteer several times” to reach her goal, “which is a demonstration of her dedication and commitment to service.”

And Capt. David Wright, the sniper school’s commander, said the soldier “met every standard required to graduate” and officials are “proud of the results of her efforts.”