American ‘GI Janes’ will train UK’s first female Commando
THE Royal Marines have drafted in American ‘GI Jane’ instructors to train the first woman to take on its gruelling recruits course.
United States Marine Corps instructors will mentor former international rower Philippa Birch who, as The Mail on Sunday has previously revealed, is attempting to become the first female in the Royal Marines’ 350-year history.
Ms Birch, 25, is expected to start training on April 29 after she passed the tough training course for potential recruits this year.
According to defence sources, Royal Marine top brass believe having female instructors as part of Ms Birch’s training team will improve her chances of success.
Her historic bid follows then Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision in 2016 to lift a centuriesold ban on women serving in closecombat roles. In America, the USMC allowed women to join fighting units in 2013 and since then about 100 females have qualified as frontline soldiers.
Some of these women will be seconded to the Royal Marines from later this month.
Last night, a source said: ‘As having a female recruit is unknown territory for the Royal Marines, the bosses have brought in female instructors from the USMC, which is a few years ahead of us.
‘Hopefully, Philippa Birch and other women who attempt the recruits course will bond with the GI Janes and their presence will boost morale. There will be dark moments for Philippa during her training and she is going where no woman has gone before in a bid to win a Green Beret. But she’s very fit, intelligent and determined.’ GI Jane was a 1997 film starring Demi Moore about a woman who attempts to join a US Special Forces unit. Last night, a Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed it had established a training relationship with the USMC and that women were ‘likely to be involved in that’, adding: ‘The standards to be a Royal Marine Commando will be the same for women as men and the training will be identical.’