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Pip wins her green beret
Captain Phillippa Tattersall is the first female to win the green beret
A "superwoman" soldier today became the first female to win the coveted green beret of the elite Royal Marines corps.
Captain Philippa Tattersall, 27, passed the eight-week all arms commando course, regarded by many as one of the world's toughest, at the third and final attempt.
The 5ft 4 ins tall officer from the Adjutant General's Corps triumphed at the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon.
She tackled a solo re-take of the Tarzan assault course, the only element of the eight-week course she had not yet passed, which had to be completed within a 13-minute deadline.
As she pitted herself against the muscle straining series of obstacles she was encouraged by members of the CTC training team.
The Tarzan course preceded the final test, a 30-mile yomp over Dartmoor in eight hours or less.
Capt Tattersall, carrying a 35lb pack and an SA80 rifle, completed that military marathon, together with 47 male colleagues, with five minutes to spare, on Wednesday.
The men all received their green berets at the finishing line, but Capt Tattersall, from Tarland, Aberdeenshire, had make do with a pasty, and wait for the outcome of her Tarzan course re-take today.
She had previously failed just one element of the Tarzan, a six-foot wall which she failed to scale on two runs.
But today she faced it again - and triumphed.
The Tarzan course comprises a series of high ropes and ladders, and an assault course ending with a rope climb up a 30-foot wall.
Despite having won the green beret, Capt Tattersall will not be going to the front line - Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has ruled it would be too risky for women soldiers to serve alongside men in combat.
But she will be able to work in either combat support, or combat service support areas of 3 Commando Brigade.
Two other women soldiers, Captain Claire Philips, 28, and Lance Corporal Joanna Perry, both from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, failed the commando course on earlier attempts.
A 26-year-old Royal Navy officer, Surgeon Lieutenant Katy Bray, 29, also recently failed, dropping out in the fifth week.
Capt Tattersall made her first two attempts to complete the all arms commando course last year.
She was failed on her first attempt just three days from the end of the course. Her second attempt, three months later, ended after just one day when she stopped on medical advice after suffering a back injury.
This time, on her final attempt, she was able to re-join the course in the fifth week - and went on to make military history.
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