Army Spc. Tinita Taylor has become the first woman to complete the Army's Jungle Operations Training Course.
Taylor told Army public affairs:
"I wanted to prove to the men that I can do what they can do."
The Army’s 21-day Jungle Operations Training Course opened in Hawaii six months ago, according to the Army Times. On March 26, the first group of soldiers graduated from the course. The Army had been without a jungle-warfare course since 1999, when it departed Fort Sherman on Panama.
Taylor, who is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, has been in the Army for three years. She is a native of Caruthersville, Mo., and says she wanted to become the kind of role model she needed as a child:
"By completing this course, I feel I am halfway to being that warrior princess I want to be."
Taylor has no intention of just sitting on her laurels. She plans to attend Army Air Assault School later this year, and then hopes one day to tackle Pre-Ranger and Ranger School:
"My goal is to be the first female Soldier to complete Ranger School."
