FORT BENNNING, Ga. (AP) A pilot of attack helicopters who competed in triathlons and a wilderness enthusiast who became a military police officer because it was the closest she could get to a combat job are the first women to finish the Army's elite Ranger School.

In a joint statement, their families say 25-year-old 1st Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, and 26-year-old Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, are ``just like all the soldiers'' graduating this week from the grueling two-month Ranger course.

Griest and Haver are ``happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep'' before they line up Friday at Fort Benning alongside 94 male soldiers who also earned the coveted black-and-gold Ranger tab to adorn their uniforms.