by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
April 21, 2025
The 25-year-old was the only woman competing in the event. She and her partner, Capt. Seth Deltenre, finished in the top 15
A Black woman became the first female to complete the U.S. Army’s Best Ranger Competition, a three-day event.
According to People, First Lt. Gabrielle A. White and her teammate, Capt. Seth Deltenre, was one of 52 teams competing in the annual three-day competition, which took place from April 11 to 13 at Camp Roger in Fort Benning, Georgia.
White, 25 and a West Point Graduate, was the only woman competing in the event; she and Deltenre finished in fourteenth place.
Yay! Congratulations 1st Lt. Gabrielle White! Congrats to all as well!:Soldier becomes first woman to compete in Best Ranger Competition
— Rosie Perez (@rosieperezbklyn) April 15, 2025
On the competition’s website, it stated that this year marked the 41st edition. The goal is to determine “the best two-man team from the entire United States Armed Forces.”
When Dick Leandri started it, it was to honor Lieutenant General (R) David E. Grange, Jr to see which two-man “buddy” team was the best in the Ranger Department at Fort Benning. Now, the competition finds the best two-man team in the United States Armed Forces. Maybe with White’s win, it won’t be described as a two-man team competition.
Some of the events in the competition included combat water survival, a bayonet obstacle course, ballistic breaching, helocasting, a rope bridge, and military knots.
Army spokesman Christopher Surridge told People that White graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in May 2021 and completed Ranger School in April 2022. She is an 11A (infantry officer), “assigned to the Maneuver Captains Career Course, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 81st Armored Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade.”
White has also received “two Army Commendation Medals, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Ranger Tab and Air Assault Badge.”
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