Marine Corps welcomes its first female combat officer
THE US marines have their first female infantry officer after a woman completed the notoriously tough training programme to graduate and command a platoon.
The woman, who asked for her name not to be released, passed the gruelling 13-week infantry training course and graduated this week – the first of 36 since Barack Obama opened the process to women in March 2016.
“I am proud of this officer and those in her class,” said General Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps. “Marines expect and rightfully deserve competent and capable leaders, and these graduates met every training requirement as they prepare for the next challenge of leading infantry marines; ultimately, in combat.”
A total of 131 marines started the infantry officer training course in July and 88 graduated in Quantico, Virginia.
The course requires technical skills and the strength and stamina to carry equipment weighing up to 152lbs.
The school begins with a day-long combat endurance test that includes rigorous hikes through Quantico’s rolling, wooded hills, an obstacle course and assessments of skills including weapons assembly and land navigation. Historically, about 10 per cent of students fail on the very first day.
The officer will now, as a lieutenant, be assigned to lead a platoon of around 40 marines at the 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, California.
The marines said she did not want to give any interviews, preferring instead to be a “quiet professional”.
Women make up about 15 per cent of the nearly 1.4 million active duty troops in the US armed forces. The marines have been seen as the branch of the US military that has been the least accepting of women in combat roles.
In 2012, three quarters of active-duty marine infantrymen said in a survey that they were opposed to full gender integration.
In 2015, two women became the first to graduate from the US army’s elite Ranger School.
In July, a woman reportedly applied to become a member of the celebrated US Navy Seals, but dropped out before completing the selection programme.