Media advisory: Historic graduation for 1st female Army Reserve Ranger
U.S. Army Reserve Command
Story by Capt. Eric Connor
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Maj. Lisa Jaster will make history Friday when she becomes the first Army Reserve female to graduate from the Army’s elite Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Jaster, an engineer for Shell Oil Co., is an Army Reserve Individual Mobilization Augmentee with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Huntsville, Alabama. She is also a 37-year-old mother of two, and a 2000 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. She will be the third female to earn the distinctive black-and-gold shoulder tab since the Army ran a gender-integrated assessment of the course in April.
Jaster will be among the graduates successfully enduring fatigue, stress and hunger while leading troops through small unit combat operations. The Ranger course is one of the toughest courses in the American military – 36 percent of students fail in the first four days. Jaster is also unique among her classmates in that she tested her physical stamina, determination and mental toughness at the age of 37, when the average age of those who complete the course is 23.
Jaster cross-trains and practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which helped condition her for the physical demands of the course. She also trains with her husband Allan, who commands a reconnaissance battalion in the Marine Corps Reserve. Highlights of the Ranger course include 49 pushups, 59 situps, a five-mile run in 40 minutes, and six chinups; a swim test. There is also land navigation test; a 12-mile foot march in three hours; several obstacle courses; four days of military mountaineering; three parachute jumps; multiple rubber boat movements; and 27 days of mock combat patrols.
“The Army Reserve couldn’t be more proud of this outstanding Soldier, and I know Shell Corporation, her civilian employer we share her with, is equally proud to have her in their organization,” said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, chief of Army Reserve and commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command.
Jaster’s manager, Hans Hofland, congratulated her in a statement released on Monday by company officials: “We are very proud of Lisa and her ability to achieve such an extremely demanding goal,” Hofland said. “Her ability to do well under pressure is exemplified in this achievement and it comes as no surprise to us that she was successful.”
Jaster has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, earning the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge. In addition to Ranger School, she is a graduate of the Army’s Airborne and Air Assault schools.
The graduation ceremony will occur Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, at 11 a.m., on Victory Pond at Fort Benning.
Media requests to interview Jaster should contact Jamal Beck at 571-305-0220 or Jamaladeen.b.beck.civ@mail.mil, or Capt. Eric Connor at 910-570-8330 or eric.w.connor.mil@mail.mil.
For more information regarding the Ranger School, refer to https://www.benning.army.mil
For more information about the Army Reserve, visit www.usar.army.mil