Burrell graduate is 57th woman ever to graduate from elite Army Ranger School

Lower Burrell native Samantha Shepherd graduated from the legendarily rigorous Army Ranger School late last year to become just the 57th woman and first Army Medical Officer to do so.

“I’m just really grateful for my opportunity to go to ranger school,” said Shepherd, who lives in Nashville and is based at nearby Fort Campbell, where she is a first lieutenant Army Medical Services officer for the 101st Airborne Division.

“It wasn’t pleasant, but I am happy,” she said.

During the training, she schlepped 80 pounds of gear around and ate only two meals a day, losing 25 pounds in the process. Army Ranger School is one of the toughest training courses a soldier can volunteer for, according to the Army. These specially trained soldiers are the Army’s “premier direct-action raid force.”

The first woman successfully graduated from the elite program in 2016, according to the Army Times.

Shepherd, 25, is a 2014 Burrell graduate who completed the arduous training in two months in late 2020 on her first try. After Burrell, she graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 2018 and entered the Army as a second lieutenant.

“She’s the 57th woman at a time when there are hundreds of men going through the training,” said her mother, Lynn Shepherd, of Peters Township, Washington County. “She was going through the swamp and climbing mountains with her bare hands and with an 80-pound rucksack, and she is only about 100 pounds.”

Shepherd, who entered the Rangers as an officer, decided to voluntarily go through the grueling training at Fort Benning, Ga.

“I don’t know what finally clicked,” Shepherd said. “I would say, ‘I don’t need this.’ Then one day, I was tired of being intimidated by a school, and I forced myself into it.”

At first, Shepherd said she was unnerved about shaving her head and the fear of failure. As she got into the training, Shepherd said, “I had other things on my mind, other things you can fail. Shaving my head became the least of my worries.”

The first physical assessment included 49 push-ups, 59 sit-ups, six pull-ups and a 5-mile run. That was before Shepherd hit land and water combat training carrying an 80-pound pack, known as a rucksack, during her waking hours and into the night.

Shepherd trained in extreme conditions, from the mountains of the Appalachian Trail to the swamps of Florida, carrying equipment and dealing with hunger after long training outings.

“There was one night when we got 45 minutes of sleep,” she said. “You become so depleted from lack of sleep or food. It’s not exhaustion; it’s beyond exhaustion.”

The exhaustion gave way to endurance for the arduous foot trips, surprising Shepherd. “I learned about the ability the body has to withstand extreme conditions,” she said.

Burrell principal John Boylan remembered Shepherd, who played soccer, as a “gritty, motivated student-athlete who had an inner drive that few students possess. She made countless sacrifices while being a kind, witty and endearing young lady.”

Shepherd always had the drive, her mother said.

“Her accomplishment is a good example of, if you really want to, you can accomplish anything you want,” she said.

Samantha’s father is a retired U.S. Army veteran, and her brother Daniel is heading to the Navy in February.