On last night’s show, we played a portion of the press conference held by the newest class of the elite Army Rangers, the first class ever to include female graduates. One part was especially striking: 2nd Lt. Michael Janowski recounted a grueling training march through the Georgia mountains. As the 320 gunner in his unit, he was carrying a particularly heavy load. The only Ranger who stepped up to help, to help carry that weight was his female “Ranger buddy,” 1st Lt. Shaye Haver. Janowski went on to say, “She literally saved me. I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now if it weren’t for Shaye.”
Ranger Janowski also mentioned something else: that he had “med-ed” out of Ranger School twice before. That’s because Janowski was battling cancer. The second time, it was flown-blown stage IV testicular cancer. His brother has written an incredible blog post about Janowski’s journey — and the pretty awe-inspiring resolve it took to earn his Ranger tab today. It’s really worth reading in full.
Janowski was just one of the 96 candidates who earned the Ranger insignia today during a graduation ceremony in Fort Benning, Georgia.
And let me tell you… even Ranger graduation is cool. Some highlights below (spoiler alert: it includes a commando crawl… across a tightwire!):
Jennifer Mulreany