First Lt. Gabrielle White just made world history.
The 25-year-old West Point graduate broke world records to become the first woman to ever compete in — and complete — the Army’s grueling three-day Best Ranger Competition, held from Friday to Sunday at Camp Rogers in Fort Benning, Georgia.
White and her teammate, Captain Seth Deltenre, were among the 16 teams that made it through to the final events that saw Ranger teams battle it out for top honors as the best of the elite military force.
White was the only woman out of the 52 two-person teams that competed, with her team placing 14th. Overall, the competition included 103 men and just one woman.
The competition involves more than 30 brutal events, including combat water survival, a bayonet obstacle course, ballistic breaching, helocasting, rope bridge crossings, military knots, and other physically and mentally demanding challenges.
Army spokesperson Christopher Surridge told People that White is an 11A (infantry officer) “assigned to the Maneuver Captains Career Course, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 81st Armored Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade.
The First Lieutenant graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in May 2021 and completed Ranger School in April 2022.
Her past accolades, per Surridge, include “two Army Commendation Medals, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Ranger Tab and Air Assault Badge.”
Female soldiers were not allowed to become Army Rangers until 2015. In August of that year, Kristen Marie Griest and Shaye Lynne Haver became the first women to complete the Ranger course.
Later that year, the Department of Defense opened all combat jobs to women.
Until now, no female soldier had ever entered the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning. Soldiers competing in the three-day event must all be Army Rangers and face over 30 intense challenges.
The Best Ranger Competition’s website describes the event, which began in 1982, as a “grueling competition, starring the best soldiers of the world.”
See photos of First Lt. Gabrielle White killing it at the competition below:
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Go off, First Lt. White!
