The first female Marine infantry officer
An unnamed female has graduated from the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course today. She has asked that her name be left out of the discussion, according to Business Insider;
The woman, who has asked to keep her identity private, will now be assigned to the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, the service said in a release.
“I am proud of this officer and those in her class? who have earned the infantry officer MOS,” Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in a statement.
More than thirty women have attempted to make it through the course, but this is the only female Marine to earn the 0302 infantry officer military occupational specialty.
Congratulations, LT.
Category: Marine Corps
I’d hit it!
Even after a couple weeks in the field ?
For him or for her?
You would “hit” a snake if Jonn held it’s head.
Smart of her to keep her name out of it.
A sign that she’s not trying to seek any notoriety or fame, but just trying to get the job done right.
BZ, LT.
Like she’s just gonna quietly blend into the crowd and disappear.
Yep.
That ain’t gonna happen, we all know. But she’s apparently not rushing to the front of the crowd with a bullhorn, either.
There is a difference.
There you go. I am not the most observant dude ever to enter the Corps, but I would pick up on the fact that my platoon commander had tits.
I hope to read about her in the future after she lead a group of Marines, located a dangerous and determined enemy and vanquished them all straight to hell.
As do I, Master Chief!
Amen!
Roger that.
Cool with that.
As long as the physical standards were not lowered and she passed, best of luck serving our Country.
Doesn’t it just -suck-, that “as long as standards were not lowered” comment is going to follow the LT until the end of days?
She has done an impressive thing. Unless and until someone -proves- she didn’t, she gets the same respect I would give anyone else who did what she did.
Now shine LT, shine. That ruck you grabbed is full of other people’s baggage. But you knew Infantry was gonna suck when you signed up. Fuckit. Drive on.
It does suck and it’s not her fault. Blame the SJW howler monkeys that demand that there WILL be female infantry officers, standards be damned. I respect this officer, she’s done something I could probably never do. I do not respect the “it’s not fair for the ladies” crowd.
the first LTs with a permanent suntan who finished probably dealt with similar questions. I think that has since been resolved.
Give her the same chance as anyone else. Now she gets to show if she really can do it.
Reasonable until you think about the fact that if she ain’t up to the task, she could get her Marines killed. And unless she is a serious Brunhilda sort of beast, she will also get beaten into the ground. Hell of a price for being trendy and cool. And money wasted that the Corps doesn’t have to waste.
Do Marines generally trust the output of IOC to be at least competent and capable?
If so, why doubt this one LT? Let her earn her way, no more and no less, than any other Marine Infantry Officer.
To me, that only -one- made it, suggests she just may be that four-sigma statistic that met the standards. Anyone fudging the results would never have been satisfied with just one.
Let’s see how this plays out.
They will be all over themselves to promote her.
If you paid any attention while you were active duty, women in the army [anyway] have LOWER physical standards than men. I never got trucked in from the field for a shower EVER.[light/airborne infantry entire time] Time will tell if our new shave tail can hang. I just want qualified people keeping the troops alive. I trust the Corps more than the army…..
So if she runs any marathons for sport will she enter the appropriate age group for women or the appropriate age group for men?
Good for this Lieutenant, for passing the course and for being so modest. Well done.
HooYah USMC.
BZ LT.
Good luck LT! Her keeping her name out of it speaks volumes that her head was in the right place about why she did this and what she wants to accomplish. IMO.
So is she going to serve as a platoon commander in an infantry company?
If so I foresee somebody being injured and unable to complete duty assignment.
Or knocked up within a year so they can get out.
Serious question: if she is leading in the field and that time of the month happens now what? What if she is deployed for several monthes? I know there are drugs to stop the cycle from happening, is she going to take them? Just sounds like it could get very unpleasent
I’ve known young ladies who could keep up with their brother Venturers backpacking or portaging a canoe regardless of the time of month.
Not every lady cramps to the point of being unable to function – though I’ve known some who did for a day or two.
I don’t see that as a problem. YMMV
And you are Light Infantry?
I was. And keeping up with little brothers at 14 years old means nothing compared to leading young men in combat. I wonder if they can laugh at her shriveled freezing vagina when she pisses in the field like infantry guys do to each others freezing shriveled wrinkled skin excuse for a dick when it’s 38 degrees F outside and you’ve been in the field 14 days. Nah – probably not. Cause that would be sexual harassment no?
Now you’re being ridiculous, Old Manchu.
Women in back country use a Go-Girl or Shee-Wee (depends on manufacturer), and they’re already using it in the military, so what makes you think this FEMALE (oh, noooo!) doesn’t already know about it and use it?????????
I’d tell you to get hold of yourself, but that would assume you have something to get ahold of in the first place.
I was being ridiculous. Should have thought about that one a little more. No excuses.
I was not thinking about from a physical viewpoint but from a sanitary angle
FWIW, OM, the youth I led were predominantly late-high-school early-college – about the same ages as some boots and 2nd LTs.
We had the occasional 14-year-olds, granted. But given a) our location in a college town and b) that most of the youth tended to stay in their respective Troops (BSA & GS-USA) until their mid-teens gave our Post/Crew a cadre of older youth.
As for the sanitary aspect – AFAIK none of our ladies had the use of the products Ex-PH2 speaks of. We did not often get to camp in the snow, being from SE Texas, but we did camp in the cold & wet. They did fine. The disposal of used feminine sanitary products is fairly straight-forward as it is. Following LNT protocols, pack-in, pack-out.
Again, I realize that what our young men and women went through is not nearly as rigorous as what the military (especially the infantry) goes through.
On the other hand, our youngest son quickly gained respect among his infantry/Airborne brothers for his ability and skills in keeping warm, dry, and prepared due to what he learned as a youth.
YMMV
Makes sense – good point. And thanks for time you obviously committed to those groups giving them the chance to be better adults than they would be without it.
What you guys don’t know about women is a HUUUUUGE lot.
Ibuprofen is a prostaglandin blocker. Prostaglandin causes menstrual cramps. Ibuprofen is marketed as Mortin and Advil, and probably in some other brands. And don’t tell me “not carried in the field”. The medics in Vietnam carried bags full of Motrin with them and handed it out like candy.
Why don’t you get your minds out of your pants and let this OFFICER who PASSED THE OIC do her job?
Don’t think so, Ex-PH2. I don’t remember ibuprofen being available until the mid-1970s or later. And based on this link, I don’t think it was approved by the FDA for use in the US until 1974.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen#History
Pretty sure the Army wasn’t routinely handing out medications in Vietnam that weren’t yet approved for human use by the FDA.
Other than dapsone for malaria?
“Why don’t you get your minds out of your pants”
Because we are men. Biology rules. Evidently what you don’t know about men is a HUUUGE lot.
The fact that she has done something that no females and some males have not done speaks volumes. Another good reason to keep your name out of the mix involves doing your job regardless of hoopla.
Can you imagine the ribbing some of the males who bilged out of the course are going to take.
I wonder the source of Commision USNA, NROTC, MECEP, PLC, or OCS?
Was wondering her source myself – just out of curiosity. Doesn’t really matter. She pretty much proved herself to be cut above. All women so far, and many men. Figure OCS, then TBS, then IOC. Pretty serious shit training wise. A good solid year of high intensity training. As for the ‘lowering of standards’ comments above, and with the recent Ranger grads, I highly doubt ‘Grouchy Bob’ Neller would allow that. I was under his command when he was a one star in ’03. He had to sign off on my WO package. The interview was no joke. Sweatiest one I’ve had to date. Ever. I imagine she could whip my ass three ways to Sunday in pretty much anything Marine. Including land nav and marksmanship – a couple of things I’m pretty serious about and pretty good at. We’ll see what happens. She’s keeping a pretty low-pro. I like that too.
Perhaps a stupid question, but here goes. What is a Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course, and when did this start? Where is it, how long is it, etc? Back in the early 70s, when you got out of The Basic School, you were qualified to be an infantry officer. If you had some other MOS, you went to your specialty school, but the grunts went straight out to the Fleet. When did this school start, and when did we get away from “every Marine is a grunt?”
The Basic Course, which is what ALL Marine second Lts go through covers a lot of weapons and tactics that will qualify a Marine officer to lead a provisional rifle platoon.
It’s sort of the officer equivalent of the enlisted’s MCT after boot camp.
IOC is an additional 12 weeks that is geared to be more hardcore.
I believe that IOC came about in the mid to late 70s
Actually need to correct the part about TBS being like MCT. Officers learn a shit load of other subjects. They have uniform regs, legal,and fundamentals of leadership. Its about 6 1/2 months.
Thanks. I’m familiar with TBS, been there, done that. Just had never heard of IOC.
A nation that sends its females to fight its wars….
How does it go?
I read it somewhere.
Depends on the Nation and the War.
People often cite the use of females by the Russians, but the fact is they were overwhelmingly used in support and combat support roles.
The Russians touted the ones that were snipers and pilots to keep up morale and encourage women volunteers and have men in the ranks accept them.
I read a book about Russian tankers and one of the veterans mentioned that females usually served at higher command levels in admin, supply or medical billets and there were never a large number of them. They inevitably struck up a relationship with an officer. The same vet said that anyone below the rank of captain didn’t stand a chance with these women.
He never said that they weren’t efficient at what they did, but said they were often a “field wife” to their officer.
He also said that since being pregnant made females ineligible for front line service they would inevitably get pregnant. They was no stigma attached to this and no one was ever disciplined. It was looked at as men and women just doing what came natural.
Depends on of they get captured, raped and killed.
Not necessarily in that order.
If that happens, these same SJW’s will be “begging” Trump to push the button on the guilty nation/nationality/race.
And men don’t get captured, raped and killed????
I did not know that!!!
Come on, GT! You can do better than that.
The way I’m reading GT is that when/if it happens, the reaction from the SJWs (or others) will be predictable.
Yes, the men get the same treatment, but due to the way we as a society react to that is different.
I know that personally I react to a woman or a girl being injured, raped, or killed on a deeply visceral level. If that woman or girl happens to be one under my protection, (team mate, family member, whatever) my reaction would be deeper and stronger.
It is just the way a man is, IMHO.
Bingo. Instinctual behavior developed over four+ million years is kinda hard to change.
No argument from me, Graybeard (and Hondo), but this candidate knew what she’ll be facing before she took the job. It’s on her shoulders.
But it is NOT something new. Women who are not combatants have had that happen to them for millenia. Daesh scumbags have made it part of their political scourge. It happened in the Balkans, Korea, Vietnam, WWII, WWI and all the way back to the beginning, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
The SJWs can howl all they want to if that should happen. They are useless creatures and we all know it.
BUT — if this Marine doesn’t have enough cojones to shoot to kill in combat, she won’t last, anyway.
Not necessarily valid. A Marine officer’s duty is to command and control the platoon. If it gets to the point where the Lt is having to put steel on target, things have seriously gone wrong.
An underestimation of an opposing force, resulting in a platoon being overwhelmed and cut to ribbons would qualify as “something seriously wrong”, wouldn’t it?
“How does it go?”
Death by snu snu!
I don’t know about the Marines, but in the Army female infantry take the APFT using the female standard, which is like 30 push ups for a 100% and like 20 minutes for the 2 miles. Only sit ups are the same for both male and female.
51 enlisted female infantry recruits going through basic right now here in Benning.
This is for real, son.
The SJW won this thing flat out.
Yep.
Seems that fact is always left out.
And it will get worse.
APFT’s are being done on the Army scale. Not MOS specific or TRADOC school scales.
Vomit!
Yef, are those all volunteers or were they told ‘this is what you are going to do?’
That does make a difference in attitude.
Yes, it makes a world of difference. I served in big USN/USMC units (like most) before busting my ass to access a special community. Within those communities there is a world of difference in motivation and attitude. All units have outstanding personnel. The special communities contain them however, as a rule rather than the exception. It was a humbling place to earn a living.
Not really. Don’t know for sure about the army, but getting through Infantry Training School for enlisted Marines was not that monstrously tough. It was school to learn those arts. Far different from actually going into the line in a combat zone.
The real fun starts in the Fleet; if they actually make her an Infantry Platoon Commander. If they do; highly doubt she completes a full tour. Women are brave and tough, but there is a lot more to being in a front line ground combat unit than just pulling a trigger.
Heard she actually got recycled at IOC. Something about not clearing CIF at Quantico.
It was on Duffleblog so you KNOW it’s true….
Lost canteen cup.
Has to be true.
Are you guys going to spend three days checking your junk because a GIRL got through the door of the ‘Boys Only – No Girls Allowed’ clubhouse?
I’m just glad this Marine has enough sense to keep her name out of the grasp of the media and focus on doing her job.
Minor quibble, Ex-PH2: that should be “focus on learning how to do her job and attempting to do it.”
Being school-trained doesn’t necessarily equate to being able to do the job in the real world. Plus, O1s/O2s who’ve not been in a unit and who aren’t prior service generally don’t know organic fertilizer from shoe polish when it comes to how their service really works.
She’s proven she can pass the training – but that only shows she is capable of learning the things necessary to do the job. Only time will tell if she actually can do the job over time. Many things could prevent that: change of heart, physical failure (either injury or simply being unable to perform at a high enough level over time), inability to “get it” with respect to leading a bunch of Joes, major error early on, whatever.
I wish her well. But I’m guessing she’s about to find out the same thing every other O1 finds out: the “real Corps” (or Army or Air Force or Navy) is quite a bit different than the school environment.
And the school solution doesn’t always work.
Graduating from ANY school only qualifies you to be a trainee. Who wants an attorney just out of law school defending them in court?
Not arguing that point, Hondo, because I have seen a few Navy officers who somehow got through OCS and whatever seamanship training they took in the 1960s, but were so damnably incompetent at what they did, you had to wonder how they got handed a commission.
It isn’t something new, as I said. While a training regimen is necessary to understand the job itself, I am fully aware that it is not the same thing as being IN combat I think it is more important to take a wait and see stance, to find out whether or not this Marine makes it through the next part of her training, and whatever happens after that.
I can’t comment on that part.
That’s on the recruiters’ side of the house.
Recruitment per MOS depends on the number of available positions. I don’t know if the female recruits were offered special bonuses to enlist as 11X. I know there was some talk about it a couple years ago, but I have never got it confirmed or denied.
I’ll ask around.
It does have a specific effect on motivation, as others have said, to volunteer for something as opposed to being voluntold for it.
Mo matter how physically strong you are, if you are not motivated to perform at or above your level of skill, you probably won’t do very well. You have to want to win if you play the game.
My daughter is a recruiter, ill ask her