Female Marine, Simply the Best

A female Marine is simply a United States Marine who must uphold our highest standards of the few and the proud. One thing is for sure though, my Marine sisters have a rich legacy of overcoming obstacles and distinguishing themselves as war fighters especially in the current war that has no front lines.

The first female Marine to join was Opha Mae Johnson, she joined a day after it was allowed for women to join the Marines.  At the time female Marines were not allowed to serve in combat zones, they could only serve as cooks, secretaries, but  not in a combat zone.

Many changes have occurred since Opha Mae Johnson joined, right this moment a female Marine is on patrol in Afghanistan or Iraq with an M16 A2 service rifle ready to shoot if necessary and probably on her way to talk to local women of the area to asses their problems or gather intel. Female Marines have become a critical asset in this war against terrorism because women in the middle east will not usually talk to male Marines so our sister Marines have to be ready to fulfill the role of intelligence gathering when it comes to talking to females in the local area.

I remember being in Iraq going out on convoy on a civil affairs mission. The objective was simply to go to a school and distribute toys to kids, very simple right? not at all. It was about seven miles to the objective and like any mission we had to rehearse what we were going to do in case of enemy contact which could happen at any time, designate drivers, aid drivers, gunners, security, and so on. We had two female Marines that served as security with all their combat load who also would serve as the speakers of our convoy because females would be the ones receiving the toys for the kids and they would not speak to male Marines. 

Our female Marines had to serve two critical roles, that of combat and speakers as well, they had to change from being aggressive and be in combat at any time to being gentle and soft so they could be trusted when we gave the toys.  We left after completing the first objective and as we went back everyone was back on a combat mindset in case it happened, by the way the mission was in Fallujah Iraq one of the most dangerous cities at the time, luckily we had no enemy contact but all of us were ready for anything, bottom line we in the Marines will utilize our assets and it doesn't matter if it's a female Marine, black, yellow, brown, white, etc, we are all expected to perform to the highest standards.

A female Marine will go to boot camp in Parris Island South Carolina, They will be in 4th Battalion which is only composed of female recruits, the Marine Corps is the only branch that has male and females separated during Marine Corps Boot Camp, I believe it is wise since realistically I think it would be a distraction for young females and males to train together. The expectations in Boot Camp for Female Marines is the same as that of males, they have to complete the same challenges in order to graduate and become a United States Marine.

Someone asked me "what advice would you give to females wanting to join". It is the same for male and females wanting to become part of my Corps, Attitude, atitude, attitude is the main key to completing Marine Corps Boot Camp, of course you have to be in shape in order to run three miles and hang from the pull up bars for sometime, and do sit ups as well but the main key is attitude, attitude, attitude, once you have a good attitude towards the training then everything falls into place.

Once a female Marine graduates Marine Corps recruit training then the easy part is over.  Now it is time to uphold the high standards everyone expects from a Marine.  One thing that may happen is that guys may be intimidated by a female Marine because of our reputation as tough and aggressive, so it could be a good thing is you encounter the bad ones out there.  Be a lady when required but tough and aggressive when required as well.

A female Marine is simply a Marine just like I said in the beginning but I wanted to highlight those efforts and legacy that have made it possible for my sisters to shine above the rest and continue to shine in our proud history and legacy in the Marine Corps.

Semper Fi brothers and sisters