Rangers Lead the Way

Doctors can practice medicine late into their careers, but jumping out of Boeing C-130 from 1,250 feet in the pitch dark night? That sort of fun is reserved for the young.

There are three phases to Ranger School - a 62-day United States Army small unit tactics and leadership course - and to be clear, each is brutally difficult. Ranger School is considered one of the most demanding training courses in the Army, with an attrition rate higher than 50 percent. The course pushes soldiers to the very edge of their mental, physical, and emotional limits. Plenty wash out in the swamp phase, but Kellyanne Cahill '23 faced her biggest threat in the mountain phase.

"You have your full combat load and your rucksack can weigh anywhere from 80 to 120 pounds. There are times you're really suffering - you're in pain, you're tired, you're hungry, and you're hiking with all this gear up a mountain."

Cahill was pushed beyond exhaustion and to the very limits of what here mind and body could endure. But she didn't break. On September 13, Cahill became the 146th woman, ever, to graduate from U.S. Army Ranger School, which didn't admit women until 2015. More than 300 soldiers pursued their Ranger Tab in Cahill's class (there are 11 Ranger classes each year), and Cahill was one of only three women to graduate. It's an accomplishment - which puts Cahill in rarefied air within the U.S. Army - that, in many ways, she's been building toward since her freshman year.

Cahill majored in biology and will likely pursue medical school, someday, but her focus on campus was divided between pre-med and a career in the Army. Cahill joined the Army ROTC Mohawk Battalion when she was 18, and she was immediately captivated.

"I have a huge family connection to Siena. My grandfather, my mom, aunts and uncles, and all four of my siblings are Siena graduates (above). My siblings and I followed our oldest brother's footsteps, a sort of tradition in our family. He did ROTC at Siena and had a fantastic experience, so when I got to campus, I decided to pursue it. It was actually kind of spur of the moment. But almost right away, I had a feeling I found something that had been missing in my life."

From the start, Cahill was all in. Her goal wasn't to commission as an officer - her purpose became testing herself in every way imaginable and experiencing... everything.

"I can always go back to medical school when I'm older, and that's absolutely still the plan, but right now I have the opportunity top do such awesome trainings provided by the Army, and that's really only something I can do when I'm young. It's fun for me. Sure, a lot of it is terrible, but the fun is the sense of pride in what you're doing and accomplishing. A lot of the fun, too, is knowing what we're capable of and our readiness to serve our country."

Immediately after completing Ranger School, Cahill moved on to U.S. Army Airborne School. She aced the three-week course in Fort Moore, Georgia - which included five jumps in the final week - and next week, she'll be joining the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Liberty, NC as an officer. The 82nd is an airborne infantry division that specializes in parachute assault operations into hostile areas. Why did Cahill want the 82nd?

"It's a good place to be for high speed, up tempo action."

A Lift from the Siena Faculty

In the darkest hours of Ranger School, a morale boost from family, friends, or in Cahill's case - Siena faculty, can go a long way. Cahill, unexpectedly, received letters of encouragement from former professors Lucas Tucker, Ph.D., Tom Hughes, Ph.D, and Stephanie Vernooy, Ph.D., which she literally opened during the field training exercise in Ranger School's final phase.

"I can't even tell you what it meant. It makes me so emotional to think about how supportive the Siena community was while I was there. I grew very close to professors while I was at Siena, but never in a million years did I expect to open a letter from one. They are truly amazing people."

When Kellyanne's sister, Elena, let me know that she was going to be in Ranger school this summer, I felt called to write a letter supporting Kellyanne and letting her know that the people at Siena wanted to see her succeed in this challenging, rigorous and impressive opportunity," said Tucker. "I hope that my letter was a source of strength during challenging times in Ranger school. Kelly Ann's personal character acts as a source of inspiration for me and others who have the honor to meet her."

In Ranger School, titles and ranks are wiped away. All soldiers are on level footing, no matter their background, education, or school.

"A soldier coming out of ROTC at Siena is treated no differently than a West Point graduate. That's a big deal. Siena was the perfect option for me, and in no way did I have to compromise my amazing college experience to be a military officer. All of these opportunities are available to me, so it's great to know your military career will in no way be compromised if you go to a smaller college."

And when that smaller college is Siena, you have faculty writing you letters like this.

"I told Kellyanne that I've had Ph.D. students go on to be college professors and undergraduate students go on to Ph.D. programs and med school and other heights," said Hughes. "But, in one year, I'm pretty sure she's eclipsed all of those accomplishments, and I couldn't possibly be prouder of her."