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Soldier with three badges completes Ranger, Sapper and Jungle courses


Soldier with three badges completes Ranger, Sapper and Jungle courses

A soldier stationed in Hawaii has accomplished a rare feat: she completed three challenging courses and earned the Ranger, Sapper and Jungle badges.

First Lt. Mackenzie Corcoran of the 29th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, is one of the few women who wears one of the most difficult badges to obtain – an arch on uniforms that denotes a special skill.

“Nobody realizes how far our bodies and minds can actually go until we push them to their limits,” Corcoran said in an Army press release.

Becoming a soldier with three awards is not an everyday accomplishment.

Earlier this year, Corcoran became the 135th woman to graduate and receive her Ranger badge, making her the eighth woman to wear both the Ranger and Sapper badges, the Army said.

Another female soldier became the first soldier to complete the Jungle Operations Training Course as an infantryman when she graduated in 2014. The following year, the first women completed the grueling Ranger course and received the coveted award. And while the Sapper Leader Course had its first graduate in 1999, it took until 2018 for the course to graduate its first female soldier.

A week after arriving at her unit in January 2022, according to the Army, Corcoran was given the opportunity to attend the Jungle Operations Training Course, a 12-day course that teaches students how to navigate and operate in the wilderness.

First tab completed, but Corcoran was far from finished.

From November to December 2022, she attended the Sapper Leader Course, a demanding 28-day course for pioneers. In one of the most challenging moments on her journey to collect tabs, Corcoran described how a traditional hour of personal time was cut to 20 minutes after running laps in the rain.

“It was terrible, we were all terrible,” she said in the Army press release, pointing out that she preferred to eat her field rations rather than take the time to sleep.

Corcoran was promoted to first lieutenant in January 2023 and later achieved another milestone by graduating from Ranger School in March of this year.

“Ranger was physically easier than Sapper, but because I had so much time to think, it was more mentally challenging,” she said.

Corcoran plans to attend a three-week course that evaluates and selects the best Rangers for the 75th Ranger Regiment. She also plans to attend Air Assault School and Pathfinder School, the Army news release said, and earn her Expert Soldier Badge.

“I want to continue to challenge myself by taking as many Army courses as possible,” she explained.

Jonathan is editor and publisher of the Early Bird Brief newsletter for Military Times. Follow him on Twitter @lehrfeld_media

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