Woman one step closer to becoming Green Beret

Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Connor Mendez

Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Connor Mendez

A female is one step closer to becoming a member of the elite Green Berets.

The woman is the first female to complete the Special Forces Assessment and Selection, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman told CNN.

The soldier’s name has not been released because of the sensitive missions assigned to Green Berets.

The woman will attempt the Special Forces Qualification Course, USASOC spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer said.

The Army Times reported that several women have tried the Special Forces Assessment and Selection process, a 24-day program but,  before now none have advanced.

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The Green Berets is one of the Army's only divisions that doesn't have female members. Since being permitted to join combat groups, more than a dozen women have earned the Ranger tab, the Army Times reported.

Three women joined the Marines infantry in January 2017, as part of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

One of the women, Cpl. Remedios Cruz was discharged in September after admitting to having had an intimate relationship with a subordinate, The New York Times reported. She and the lower-ranking Marine eventually married, the Times reported.

She faced charges of fraternization, adultery and accessory to larceny, but pleaded guilty to fraternization to avoid going on trial.

An officer who was in charge of a pretrial hearing found no probable cause for adultery and larceny charges but said that she should be administratively punished for fraternizing with the man she had married before the charges were investigated, the Times reported.

But her battalion commander said that all three charges should go to trial, despite the pretrial hearing’s findings. She was given the choice of going to trial, or accepting the plea agreement, admitting to fraternization.

Cruz, who was a sergeant at the time, was reduced to a corporal rank and restricted to base, The New York Times reported.

She is awaiting separation from the service, the Marine Corps Times reported.

As of September, there were approximately 185,000 active-duty Marines, and about 15,900 were women, according to the Department of Defense.

The Army has about 740 women serving in combat roles that were restricted to only men in the past, The New York Times reported.

There are about 476,000 serving on active duty in the Army as of September, according to the Army Times. Of them, there are about 70,000 women, according to Department of Defense records.

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