USMC To Send Women to Infantry School

[bayonetbrant]

http://grognews.blogspot.com/2012/04/usmc-to-send-women-to-infantry-school.html

from the Marine Corps Times

The Marine Corps school that produces infantry combat officers will enroll its first-ever female students this year, Marine Corps Times has learned.

As part of the service's extensive research campaign to determine what additional jobs could be opened to women, an undetermined number of volunteers will attend the Infantry Officers Course in Quantico, Va., said Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Corps' assistant commandant. There, Marine officers are groomed to serve in direct combat roles and lead troops into battle.

"We are in the process right now of soliciting volunteers," Dunford said on Wednesday.

It's a monumental — if controversial — move for the Marine Corps, which until now barred female Marines from the program and required instead that they attend other courses aimed at preparing them for assignments in support roles such as logistics, personnel administration and aircraft maintenance, among others.

Soon, enlisted women also will have an opportunity to attend infantry training, Dunford said. Marine officials are developing plans to assign female Marines to the Corps' Infantry Training Battalions, which fall under the Schools of the Infantry.

more at the link

[Centurion40]

This was inevitable.

[Martok]

I still think this is a really really really really REALLY bad idea. 

[LongBlade]

In some ways it jives with the spirit of "every Marine a rifleman." d

Do all male Marines go to infantry school?

[MikeGER]

...looks like female Combat Marines are the future  ;)

[Centurion40]

In some ways it jives with the spirit of "every Marine a rifleman." d

Do all male Marines go to infantry school?

Here what Wiki says:

Commissioned officers are commissioned mainly through one of three sources: Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), Officer Candidates School (OCS), or the United States Naval Academy (USNA). Following commissioning, all Marine commissioned officers, regardless of accession route or further training requirements, attend The Basic School (TBS) at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. At TBS, second lieutenants, warrant officers, and selected foreign officers learn the art of infantry and combined arms warfare.[18]

Enlisted Marines attend recruit training, known as boot camp, at either Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego or Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Historically, the Mississippi River served as the dividing line which delineated who would be trained where, while more recently, a district system has ensured a more even distribution of male recruits between the two MCRD facilities. Females attend only the Parris Island depot as part of the segregated Fourth Recruit Training Battalion. All recruits must pass a fitness test to start training; those who fail receive individualized attention and training until the minimum standards are reached. Marine recruit training is the longest among the American military services; it is 12 weeks long, compared to the Army's 10 weeks or the Navy's 9 weeks.[101]

Following recruit training, enlisted Marines then attend School of Infantry training at Camp Geiger or Camp Pendleton. Infantry Marines begin their combat training, which varies in length, immediately with the Infantry Training Battalion (ITB). Marines in all other MOSs other than infantry train for 29 days in Marine Combat Training (MCT), learning common infantry skills, before continuing on to their MOS schools which vary in length.[102]

[LongBlade]

Well, there ya go.

[mirth]

...looks like female Combat Marines are the future  ;)

Vasquez was not female ;)

[Jarhead0331]

In some ways it jives with the spirit of "every Marine a rifleman." d

Do all male Marines go to infantry school?

All Grunts go to SOI (School of Infantry).  Persons other than Grunts got to MCT (Marine Combat Training).

I don't see a problem with this.  The US Navy has a glorious history and it has been using women in combat since its formation in 1775.  ;)

[bayonetbrant]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/04/08/women-now-0-for-29-in-attempting-marine-infantry-officer-course/

The Marine Corps opened its grueling Infantry Officer Course to women in 2012, part of the Pentagon's effort to assess how it should integrate female service members into more jobs. The assessment is now closing to volunteers on schedule with a stark statistic: Women who have tried the course so far are 0 for 29.

The Infantry Officer Course (IOC) that began April 2 included two women who fell short during its initial Combat Endurance Test (CET). The endurance test is the initial phase of IOC, a daunting test of physical strength and will that includes an obstacle course, grueling hikes through Quantico's wooded hills and  assessments of skills like weapons assembly and land navigation. Nine of the 90 men who attempted the most recent course — 10 percent — also were cut during the endurance test, said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a Marine Corps spokeswoman.

The news, first reported by Marine Corps Times on Tuesday, will be used as evidence by those who think there is no place for female officers in the all-male infantry, in particular. The research is part of a three-year project mandated in January 2012 by then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who said the services must integrate women into all jobs by 2016, or request exceptions based on rigorous analysis.

The Marine struggled to find enough volunteers to further their research, eventually changing the criteria last summer to allow seasoned lieutenants and captains to attempt IOC as long as they completed the male version of the service's annual fitness test, which requires at least five pull-ups, and a combat fitness test.

At Quantico, women who want to be ground intelligence officers will still be allowed to attempt the Infantry Officer Course (IOC), and must pass it to get the job. The position — which isn't in the infantry, but frequently works alongside it — was opened to female officers in October 2013, but no woman has passed the prerequisites to do so.

The Marines also opened infantry training for enlisted troops to women in 2013, and they have fared better. As of February 2015, 358 women had volunteered, and 122 (34 percent) have graduated, said Krebs. Those who have completed it so far have gone through only on an experimental basis, and will not be allowed to be infantrymen.

more at the link

I am curious what the failure rate is for the men, but I'm also too lazy to go find it...

[Centurion40]

I appreciate that standards have not been lowered as an accommodation.

[BanzaiCat]

I am curious what the failure rate is for the men, but I'm also too lazy to go find it...

Sheesh

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/l/blbasicattrit.htm

Old data, but somewhat interesting.

Also, this is an interesting read: http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?82822-Marine-Boot-Camp-Drop-Out

[bayonetbrant]

that's not the officer course though

[BanzaiCat]

This?

http://www.nationalguard.com/forums/forum/joining-the-guard/national-guard-specialty-officers-and-special-forces/basic-branch-officer/242287-traditional-ocs-attrition-drop-out-rate-and-other-questionse

NG site, but the discussion is on par.

[Centurion40]

I am curious what the failure rate is for the men, but I'm also too lazy to go find it...

Sheesh

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/l/blbasicattrit.htm

Old data, but somewhat interesting.

Also, this is an interesting read: http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?82822-Marine-Boot-Camp-Drop-Out

I also know the Army/Navy will pick up anybody. I have seen people as retarded as you can be before you a legal retard in the Army.