U.S. Marines attending the infantry officer course prepare to conduct a fast rope exercise during Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course on Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., March 27, 2015. (Jodson B. Graves/U.S. Marine Corps)
WASHINGTON — A female Marine Corps officer was dropped from infantry training last month after failing the course for a second time since all military jobs were opened to women, a Marine spokesman said Monday.
The female officer was reassigned to a different Military Occupation Specialty on July 18 after she failed two conditioning hikes, said Capt. Joshua Pena, a spokesman for Marine Corps Training and Education Command. The Marines declined to release the woman’s name, rank, location or new specialty.
To date, she is the only female Marine officer to attempt the physically demanding Infantry Officer Course since Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December opened all jobs in the military to women.
Marine Corps leadership had requested Carter maintain the traditional ban on women serving in the most demanding front-line combat jobs, including the infantry. But Carter ignored their request, arguing it was beneficial to the military to be as inclusive as possible. He said women would be held to the same physical standards as men if they wished to join front-line units.
There are no female officers enrolled in the Infantry Officer Course now or slated to attend a future class, Pena said.
During three years of testing before Carter’s decision to open all military positions to women, the Marines allowed 29 female officers to attempt IOC as part of a female integration study. None of the women passed the course, and they would not have been offered the opportunity to join the infantry had they passed.
The woman who failed out of infantry training last month was dropped initially from the 84-day course after 11 days in April after she was unable to complete two hikes. It is standard for Marine officers who do not complete the course on the first try to get a second opportunity.
She began her second attempt July 6, but was cut after her second failed conditioning hike. Thirty-four of 97 officers have been dropped from that class, so far, Pena said. Officers who pass the course are scheduled to graduate Sept. 20.
Last month, the Army announced two female officers had been selected to attempt initial Special Forces training later this year. Last year, two female Army officers graduated the service’s grueling Ranger School course. One of those officers, Capt. Kristen Griest, later become the first female soldier to join the infantry.
The Army has said Griest and other women attempting traditionally all-male jobs have been held to the same standards as male soldiers. Women in the Marines also will be held to the same physical standards as their male counterparts, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has said.
In April, Mabus said he and Marine leadership would not consider lowering standards if women cannot complete the course.
“You do not lower standards – ever,” Mabus said at Camp Pendleton in California. “I will never lower standards for any group. The question is only: Can you do the job as a Marine?”
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