Boot camp will train women
First integrated recruit company reports to depot in February.
For the f irst time ever, the Marine facility in San Diego will accept female recruits next year.
SAN DIEGO — For the f irst time in its nearly 100year history, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego will accept women for recruit training early next year, the Marine Corps said Monday.
The recruit company, designated “Lima,” will serve as a “proof of concept” to demonstrate to the Marine Corps what will be required for sustained integrated recruit training in
San Diego, according to the Marines. The recruits will report to the depot Feb. 12.
“This is the f irst time we are able to give Marines who graduate from MCRD San Diego the same integrated experience that many of their peers at Parris Island [ in South Carolina] have received already,” Brig. Gen. Ryan P. Heritage, the commanding general of the depot, said in a statement. "[ This] will get us one step closer to understanding the facilities and personnel needed to make this a sustained reality.”
The Marine Corps’ plans were f irst reported Monday by news site Military. com.
The Marines also announced that on Wednesday, a class of 57 will graduate from the depot’s f irst integrated drill instructor course. Among the graduates are three women, who will be among the instructors involved in training the new integrated company, according to Capt. Martin Harris, a depot spokesman.
About 60 women will make up one of the six platoons in the company. The women have been told they’re bound for San Diego, Harris said.
Congress mandated last year that the Marines integrate their two boot camps, San Diego and Parris Island, within a decade.
Women have been training separately from men on the East Coast, while San
Diego has been all- male since it began training recruits in 1923.
The Marines graduated their f irst coed recruit company at Parris Island in 2019. Since then, eight integrated companies have graduated.
As has been the case during most of the COVID- 19 pandemic, all recruits will quarantine for at least two weeks upon arrival to San Diego before beginning training, the Marines said. Training in San Diego has been adjusted to accommodate social distancing and mask- wearing, and the depot is off- limits to people who do not work there.