Women allowed to apply for close combat roles in Royal Marines for the first time

WOMEN may apply for close combat roles in the Royal Marines, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has announced, as veterans say the idea of a “front line” in modern combat is outdated.

After preliminary fitness tests and interviews, up to 20 women are expected to undertake the 32-week training course at the commando training centre in Lympstone, Devon, next year.

The recruits will train to the same standards as male colleagues and sleep in the same dormitories, albeit with separate lavatories and showers. Normal military rules of separating accommodation will be waived in the name of troop cohesion.

Women have previously been allowed to attempt the nine-week commando course designed for anyone attached to 3 Commando Brigade, but this is the first time they can attempt to serve as regular Royal Marines.

Only two women have passed the nine-week All Arms Commando course: Major Philippa Tattersall of the army’s Adjutant General’s Corps, and a naval officer. All combat roles in the military are to be opened up to women by the end of 2018 although women have for years served operationally in direct contact with the enemy, the traditional understanding of the “front line”.

Female helicopter pilots, intelligence specialists, medics, drivers and linguists operated alongside male infantrymen throughout recent campaigns.

“Who do you think drives the trucks in a 25-mile Combat Logistic Patrol?” said Vicki Wentworth, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “When you get caught in an ambush, it sure feels like the front line, I can tell you.” The ban on women serving in so-called “close combat” roles was lifted in 2016.