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For the first time, the Marine Corps plans to have a female infantry officer among its ranks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ve-a-female-infantry-officer-among-its-ranks/
The Marine Corps plans to assign a woman as an infantry officer, a historic first, following her anticipated graduation from the service’s grueling Infantry Officer Course, service officials said Thursday.
The lieutenant and her male colleagues completed a three-week combat exercise Wednesday that includes live fire at the service’s training center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., the service said in a statement Thursday after The Washington Post first reported the news. That exercise marked the final graded requirement in the 13-week course, which is widely seen as some of the toughest training in the military. About 25 percent all students typically wash out.
The woman is the first female officer to complete the course of three dozen who tried it. She is expected to lead a platoon of about 40 infantry Marines in a service that is often seen as the most resistant to full gender integration in the military. It has grappled this year with a scandal in which more than a 1,000 current Marines and veterans were investigated for sharing photographs of nude female colleagues online.
[How big is opposition to women in combat units among Marines? This report explains.]
The class will mark its graduation Monday with a “warrior breakfast” 40 miles south of Washington at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, said three officials with knowledge of the course. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the graduation has not yet occurred. All that remains between now and then is returning equipment used during training, and a few administrative tasks, they said.
The historic moment arrives nearly two years after the Pentagon lifted the military’s last remaining restrictions for women, part of an effort by the Obama administration to make the armed forces fully inclusive. Officials shared few details about the lieutenant Thursday, and two said it is unlikely that she will agree to do any media interviews, preferring to be a “quiet professional” and just do her job.
Play Video 1:51
Infantry Officers' Course
0:00
A description of the Infantry Officers' Course at the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command in Twentynine Palms, Calif. (U.S. Marines Corps)
The Marines first opened the Infantry Officer Course to women on an experimental basis in 2012, allowing them to attempt it as a part of broader research across the Defense Department examining how to integrate all-male units. Thirty-two women tried the course before the research ended in spring 2015, and none completed it.
Four additional female Marines have attempted the course since the Pentagon opened all jobs to women in December 2015, including the lieutenant expected to graduate Monday. At least one of those four women attempted the course twice, but did not complete it.
The course requires both proficiency as a military officer in the field and the strength and stamina to carry loads of up to 152 pounds for long periods of time. The school begins with a day-long combat endurance test that includes grueling hikes through Quantico’s rolling, wooded hills, an obstacle course and assessments of skills like weapons assembly and land navigation. About 10 percent of students historically fail the first day.
The new infantry officer will join a part of the military that has long been seen as being critical of serving alongside women.
Three out of four active-duty infantrymen said they were opposed to full gender integration in a 2012 survey of 54,000 Marines obtained last year through the Freedom of Information Act. Ninety percent of male Marines responded that they were concerned about intimate relationships between Marines in the same combat unit becoming a problem, and more than 80 percent said they were concerned about false sexual allegations, fraternization and women receiving preferential treatment.
Marine officials have argued those sentiments have waned in the last few years, but it’s unclear how much — especially in light of the photo-sharing scandal that emerged this year. Gen. Robert B. Neller, the service’s top officer, has pleaded with Marines to be respectful toward women in the ranks, highlighting that some already have died in combat.
“To the men in our Corps, to those serving today and those no longer wearing the uniform, you are still Marines,” Neller said in March while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I need you to ask yourselves, ‘How much more do the females of our corps have to do to be accepted?'”
Kyleanne Hunter, a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services and former Marine helicopter pilot, said that the new infantry officer will deal with two major issues once she is assigned to her battalion. One will be winning over Marines under her command, Hunter said, and the second will be coping with outside attention and critics who want to see her fail.
“I think people are rightfully excited,” she said. “She did something that is really hard, and it’s hard physically and it’s hard mentally. But at the same time, too much attention can take away from her operational requirements. Her first challenge is going to be to remain anonymous, for lack of a better term, and just do her job.”
Other parts of the military that previously were all male also have begun to integrate over the last two years. For instance, Army Capt. Kristen Griest was assigned last year as her service’s first infantry officer. In 2015, she became one of three women who completed the Army’s iconic Ranger School, a leadership course that also focuses heavily on infantry tactics and is known for its short nights of sleep and small amount of food.
Women have not yet met the qualifications to take elite jobs in Special Operations, including Navy SEAL and Army Special Forces soldier, sometimes known as a Green Beret. At least three women have attempted the Special Forces Assessment Selection test.
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Female enlisted Marines began joining the infantry in January. Senior Marine officials said last year that they were working to change the culture in advance of that occurring.
“There’s no doubt we’re leading cultural change,” Brig. Gen. James Glynn said then. “It’s not the first time that’s happened in the Marine Corps. We’ve been known to take challenges head-on.”
Related stories:
How the Army’s first female Ranger School graduates made it through the legendary school
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ve-a-female-infantry-officer-among-its-ranks/
The Marine Corps plans to assign a woman as an infantry officer, a historic first, following her anticipated graduation from the service’s grueling Infantry Officer Course, service officials said Thursday.
The lieutenant and her male colleagues completed a three-week combat exercise Wednesday that includes live fire at the service’s training center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., the service said in a statement Thursday after The Washington Post first reported the news. That exercise marked the final graded requirement in the 13-week course, which is widely seen as some of the toughest training in the military. About 25 percent all students typically wash out.
The woman is the first female officer to complete the course of three dozen who tried it. She is expected to lead a platoon of about 40 infantry Marines in a service that is often seen as the most resistant to full gender integration in the military. It has grappled this year with a scandal in which more than a 1,000 current Marines and veterans were investigated for sharing photographs of nude female colleagues online.
[How big is opposition to women in combat units among Marines? This report explains.]
The class will mark its graduation Monday with a “warrior breakfast” 40 miles south of Washington at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, said three officials with knowledge of the course. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the graduation has not yet occurred. All that remains between now and then is returning equipment used during training, and a few administrative tasks, they said.
The historic moment arrives nearly two years after the Pentagon lifted the military’s last remaining restrictions for women, part of an effort by the Obama administration to make the armed forces fully inclusive. Officials shared few details about the lieutenant Thursday, and two said it is unlikely that she will agree to do any media interviews, preferring to be a “quiet professional” and just do her job.
Play Video 1:51
Infantry Officers' Course
0:00
A description of the Infantry Officers' Course at the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command in Twentynine Palms, Calif. (U.S. Marines Corps)
The Marines first opened the Infantry Officer Course to women on an experimental basis in 2012, allowing them to attempt it as a part of broader research across the Defense Department examining how to integrate all-male units. Thirty-two women tried the course before the research ended in spring 2015, and none completed it.
Four additional female Marines have attempted the course since the Pentagon opened all jobs to women in December 2015, including the lieutenant expected to graduate Monday. At least one of those four women attempted the course twice, but did not complete it.
The course requires both proficiency as a military officer in the field and the strength and stamina to carry loads of up to 152 pounds for long periods of time. The school begins with a day-long combat endurance test that includes grueling hikes through Quantico’s rolling, wooded hills, an obstacle course and assessments of skills like weapons assembly and land navigation. About 10 percent of students historically fail the first day.
The new infantry officer will join a part of the military that has long been seen as being critical of serving alongside women.
Three out of four active-duty infantrymen said they were opposed to full gender integration in a 2012 survey of 54,000 Marines obtained last year through the Freedom of Information Act. Ninety percent of male Marines responded that they were concerned about intimate relationships between Marines in the same combat unit becoming a problem, and more than 80 percent said they were concerned about false sexual allegations, fraternization and women receiving preferential treatment.
Marine officials have argued those sentiments have waned in the last few years, but it’s unclear how much — especially in light of the photo-sharing scandal that emerged this year. Gen. Robert B. Neller, the service’s top officer, has pleaded with Marines to be respectful toward women in the ranks, highlighting that some already have died in combat.
“To the men in our Corps, to those serving today and those no longer wearing the uniform, you are still Marines,” Neller said in March while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I need you to ask yourselves, ‘How much more do the females of our corps have to do to be accepted?'”
Kyleanne Hunter, a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services and former Marine helicopter pilot, said that the new infantry officer will deal with two major issues once she is assigned to her battalion. One will be winning over Marines under her command, Hunter said, and the second will be coping with outside attention and critics who want to see her fail.
“I think people are rightfully excited,” she said. “She did something that is really hard, and it’s hard physically and it’s hard mentally. But at the same time, too much attention can take away from her operational requirements. Her first challenge is going to be to remain anonymous, for lack of a better term, and just do her job.”
Other parts of the military that previously were all male also have begun to integrate over the last two years. For instance, Army Capt. Kristen Griest was assigned last year as her service’s first infantry officer. In 2015, she became one of three women who completed the Army’s iconic Ranger School, a leadership course that also focuses heavily on infantry tactics and is known for its short nights of sleep and small amount of food.
Women have not yet met the qualifications to take elite jobs in Special Operations, including Navy SEAL and Army Special Forces soldier, sometimes known as a Green Beret. At least three women have attempted the Special Forces Assessment Selection test.
Checkpoint newsletter
Military, defense and security at home and abroad.
Sign up
Female enlisted Marines began joining the infantry in January. Senior Marine officials said last year that they were working to change the culture in advance of that occurring.
“There’s no doubt we’re leading cultural change,” Brig. Gen. James Glynn said then. “It’s not the first time that’s happened in the Marine Corps. We’ve been known to take challenges head-on.”
Related stories:
How the Army’s first female Ranger School graduates made it through the legendary school
