Exclusive: First Female Green Beret Receives Special Forces Tab Ahead of Graduation

The first female soldier to become a Green Beret in the U.S. Army’s history received a Special Forces tab during a private ceremony Tuesday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Breitbart News exclusively learned.

The soldier is expected to receive her Green Beret on Thursday, when she officially graduates the Special Forces Qualification Course, or “Q-Course.”

She is a National Guard soldier and will be an 18 Charlie, or Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. The Army is keeping her identity secret since she will be assigned to a team and deploy in the future.

The soldier received her tab along with dozens of other soldiers in an outdoor ceremony, without fanfare. Her male peers rated her highly during peer-evaluations and said she had an “awesome personality” and carried the same weight as everyone else. The Q-course is famed for being physically demanding and mentally draining.

She is not the first woman to complete the training, however. The first was Army Capt. Kate Wilder, who completed the Q-course and received a graduate certificate but did not receive the Green Beret.

The graduation will mark the first time a woman has officially become a member of the special operations forces in any U.S. military service, although many women have served with SOF military teams as members of cultural support teams and female engagement teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Women have also served with special operations teams in linguist and intelligence roles, such as Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent. Kent supported SEAL teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was killed in early 2019 while serving alongside special operations forces in Syria.

Opinion among the previously all-male Special Forces on her graduation is mixed.

Those who know her or have trained her cheer her graduation and attest to her physical fitness.

However, some others believe it is part of an Army campaign to promote gender diversity in its ranks. There are two additional women currently going through the Q-course.

 

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