QUANTICO, Va. -- It was 10 a.m., and the Marines trudging along the
road bordered by thick Virginia woods had been up for seven hours
already.
Their uniforms were soaked with sweat, and their faces showed signs of the pain in their muscles. Their day was far from over.
The
demanding training was a typical first day in the Marine Corps'
Infantry Officer Course except for one thing: For the first time, two
women were part of the class.
"The women are expected to do
everything that the men do," says Marine Col. Todd Desgrosseilliers, who
commands the organization responsible for basic Marine officer and
infantry training. "We haven't changed anything."
Women have been
steadily moving into many ranks previously barred to them, living at
forward bases, flying combat aircraft and serving on submarine crews.
Women remain barred from the infantry and other combat-arms specialties,
but for the first time are being allowed to enter the Marines infantry
officer training.
Allowing the women to volunteer for the course is part of an
"experiment" to determine how they perform in the rigorous regimen of
physical and psychological stress that Marine infantry officer
candidates are put through. Marine Corps' Infantry Officer Course is a
course in which about 25% of men don't make the cut or voluntarily drop
out.
Critics say the move is taking gender equality too far. They
worry that some efforts to accommodate women could lead to changing
standards and ultimately hurt military readiness.
"In the end,
when all is said and done, what they should be focusing on is combat
effectiveness," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R.-Calif., a member of the
Armed Services Committee. "Does it make us better at literally killing
the enemy? That's what their job is going to be."
The Marine Corps
say its experiment is an attempt to collect data for the Pentagon as it
considers expanding the number of positions available to women in the
military. The infantry is the most elemental and personal form of
warfare, and remains off-limits to women.
For those who advocate
the breaking down of barriers throughout the military, the infantry is
the final frontier. Women who complete the Marine course will not become
infantry officers since Pentagon policy still prohibits it, but some
are pushing for the ban to be lifted.
David Barno, a retired
three-star Army general now a senior adviser at the Center for a New
American Security, says the infantry is a brutal form of warfare and the
military should consider any lifting of the ban carefully.
Infantrymen
engage in close-in fighting, sometimes "with knives, rocks and
shovels," Barno says. "I don't rule that out, but I think we should take
a hard look at that."
Not just about brute strength
The
Marine Corps has rarely allowed journalists to view the Infantry
Officer Course. The Marines say assessing how the candidates deal with
the stress and uncertainty is crucial to selecting officers, so they
don't want them to know what to expect. USA TODAY agreed to withhold
details in return for access to the training.
The candidates,
nearly all newly minted second lieutenants who have recently completed
the basic officer course, are dropped into the woods well before dawn.
They must navigate through darkened woods using maps and compasses.
Carrying
packs and rifles, the prospects never stop moving throughout the day.
They are given the briefest of instructions and are rebuffed if they ask
instructors for further guidance. They don't even know the requirements
for passing the course.
Physical endurance is only part of the course.
"We're
not just trying to see who is the most enduring or the toughest," Gen.
James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, told USA TODAY. "They have to
be able to make decisions under stress and duress."
For all the
advances in weaponry and tactics, the essence of the infantry has
changed little over the centuries. The infantry travels by foot, sleeps
in the mud and engages in close combat. No amount of technology will
change that.
"The infantry is remarkably timeless," Desgrosseilliers says.
Infantry
officers carry an average of about 70 pounds of gear on their body in
combat and can march for miles. That weight can nearly double that when
Marines are carrying crew-served weapons, such as mortars and heavy
machine guns. They fight with what they carry on their backs.
Marine
Capt. Brian Perkins kept a careful watch over a small group of
exhausted Marine lieutenants struggling through a series of pull-ups.
"She's
just another student to me," Perkins said, referring to one of the
women as she sweated through exercises. "The standard is the standard."
Men
who graduate from the Marine Infantry Officer Course will go on to
command rifle platoons. Women who pass the course will go on to other
specialties.
More than 280,000 women have deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan, but not in the infantry. Analysts point out that the nature
of war has changed, blurring the distinction between "front line"
troops like infantry and other support jobs.
"The performance of
women in combat is validated," says Desgrosseilliers, who was awarded a
silver star, the military's third-highest award for heroism, in
Fallujah, Iraq. "They haven't been in the infantry though."
"Sometimes
we forget that even in Iraq and Afghanistan there have been many
situations where Marines are fighting with their bare hands against the
enemy," said Maj. Scott Cuomo, director of the Infantry Officer Course.
"In one case, in a battle in Najaf, I was 50 feet from a Marine
infantryman killing the enemy with his knife."
Difference of opinions still remain
The U.S. military is committed to opening doors to more women.
This
past spring the Pentagon made available more than 14,000 additional
jobs to women in the services. Women can now serve in staff positions in
some combat-arms units and in units that serve along with combat
organizations, such as artillery or infantry.
About two-thirds of
positions in the active duty Marine Corps were open to women, says the
Pentagon. However, women make up about 7% of the active duty Marine
Corps and 13% of the Army.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has
ordered the services to update him next month on how women performed in
the new jobs and on efforts to develop "gender-neutral physical
standards" with an aim toward opening still more positions to women.
Developing
gender-neutral standards raises the question of whether they would be
made less strenuous. Some advocates for putting women in the infantry
have suggested that the standards at the Marine officer training course
may not be an accurate test of what it takes to be an infantryman.
Nancy
Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law center, says
the Marines should first re-evaluate the standards before putting women
through the course.
"They're going at this backwards," Campbell says.
Not all women in the military say they should be allowed to serve in the infantry.
A female Marine officer with two combat tours had published an opinion piece in the Marine Corps Gazette saying the physical demands of infantry fighting were harmful to women physically.
"I
understand that everyone is affected differently; however, I am
confident that should the Marine Corps attempt to fully integrate women
into the infantry, we as an institution are going to experience a
colossal increase in crippling and career-ending medical conditions for
females," Capt. Katie Petronio wrote.
She said women in the
Marines were not clamoring for positions in the infantry, and that the
drive to have them serve is being orchestrated by a handful of groups
that include the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the
Service.
Women are held to different physical standards in recruit
training and other parts of the military, but doing so for the infantry
would be a mistake, infantry officers say.
The experiment will
provide the Marine Corps with information about how women perform in
infantry training. Amos says he wants data rather than "hunches."
'Deal with it'
As
the afternoon drew on, Marines staggered along the roadway, some at a
slow jog. Their faces beginning to take on what the Marines call "the
1,000-yard stare." A woman hung from the pull-up bars, mustering the
strength to pull herself over the bar. Nearby, other Marines grunted
through exercises.
A steady rain fell, but infantrymen take a perverse delight in the tough conditions they face, says Cuomo.
"It's raining. The weather sucks. You're by yourself. You're hungry. Deal with it," he says.
One
of the two women that started the 13-week course did not make it past
the first day, which tests combat endurance. Neither did 27 of the 109
men.
The Marine Corps did not release the names of the candidates.
They did release a statement from the 24-year-old woman who passed: She
said she saw the training as an "incredible opportunity" for women.
"It's
about the balance between mental and physical toughness," Perkins said
of those who have what it takes to be infantry officers. "You can see it
in their eyes."
USA Today