Ranger School Grads Join Long History of Warrior Women
For more than two millennia, from the Amazons to today, women have fought in combat.
Capt. Kristen Griest and First Lt. Shaye Haver are the first female soldiers to graduate from the Army’s grueling Ranger School, but history is full of women who've fought in armies around the world.
None are more famous—or more misunderstood—than the Amazons.
In Greek mythology, the Amazons were described as a race of fierce women warriors who lived without men and cut off one breast to make it easier to shoot a bow and arrow. Some said they were man-hating virgins, that they enslaved men, and even that they mutilated male babies.
Like many such tales, the stories are myth. No one ever mutilated themselves or babies. But there is some basis for the legendary female warriors. Fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus even gave
