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| Female Marine drops out of infantry course |
| 2016-08-16 |
| [CNN] -- The only female officer enrolled in the Marine Corps' Infantry Officer's Course has dropped out after failing to complete two conditioning hikes last month, according to the Marine Corps' Training and Education Command. "At this time, there are no female officers enrolled or slated to attend (the Infantry Officer's Course)," Marine spokesman Capt. Joshua Pena told CNN. He added that 33 additional officers have been dropped from the course out of a starting class comprising 97 officers. The course started on July 6 and is scheduled to finish on September 20. This was the female officer's second attempt at passing the course. She will now be given another specialization for her career as an officer in the Marines. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the opening of all combat roles to women back in December, but as of yet no female Marine has passed the Infantry Officer's Course. In January, then-head of Southern Command, Marine Gen. John Kelly, cast doubt on whether many women would be able to enter the infantry if current standards were upheld. "If we don't change standards, it will be very, very difficult to have any numbers -- any real numbers come into the infantry," Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. But the deputy commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. John "Jay" Paxton Jr., espoused a more optimistic view. "I think the Marines who happen to be women, who are going into those units, are committed to live up to that standard and contribute to unit efficiency and unit success," Paxton said in an interview with the Marine Corps Times published Monday. The US Army fielded its first female infantry officer in April. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 Giving the woman points for trying twice, bet she could handle Big 'Shirl. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-08-16 20:14 |
| #8 SteveS, since the "mission" has been defined as "Get women into combat arms, no matter what the cost to our warfighting capabilities, of course the standards will be lowered. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2016-08-16 18:08 |
| #7 Standards will NOT be lowered. They well be "revised and updated in line with mission requirements". Much like how carrying heavy things up and down ladders was deemed no longer relevant to the job of firefighting, and was removed from the tests after it was deemed problematic for applicants of a certain persuasion. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2016-08-16 17:18 |
| #6 My fear exactly, Glenmore. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2016-08-16 12:20 |
| #5 I'm pretty sure orders will come down that if women cannot meet the standards, the standards for women - or more likely everyone - will have the be lowered until they can be met. Military is about social justice now, not war fighting. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2016-08-16 12:16 |
| #4 The only standards are those established in the Darwinistic battlefield environment. No pols, no judges, no suck up generals. The tab to be paid in pain and blood by those around any unqualified leader. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-08-16 08:26 |
| #3 Be ready to surpass standards before you enter or you are not trying hard enought. And NO, You will not change Task, Conditions, or Standards of a Combat Warfighter. Enough of this bullshit. If you are not ready to be Joan of Arc, then find another line of work. |
| Posted by: newc 2016-08-16 01:44 |
| #2 I hope they are prepared for the political retribution. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-08-16 01:18 |
| #1 "If we don't change standards, it will be very, very difficult to have any numbers -- any real numbers come into the infantry," Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. ARGHHHH! |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-08-16 00:37 |