For the first time in Marine Corps history, three women will graduate from the Marine Corps’ grueling enlisted infantry training course.
Officials tell the Marine Corps Times the women completed the exact same demanding 59-day course as the men:
For example, during the 12½-mile march, all students were required to haul almost 90-pounds of combat gear. The women assigned to Delta Company also were required to perform pull-ups — not a flexed-arm hang — during their Physical Fitness Test.
Four female Marines actually completed the course, but an injury will prevent Harlee "Rambo" Bradford from graduating with her colleagues on Thursday. She's expected to graduate in December. (The three remaining graduates have not yet released their names to the media.)
So this means these female graduates can join the same infantry units as the men now, right? Not so fast, reports CNN:
Their 59 days of arduous work will instead become part of the Marine Corps ongoing research into the possibility of having women serve in combat.
Hmm.... I still can't get the song "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" out of my head.
Anyway, the graduation ceremony is set to take place Thursday at Camp Geiger in North Carolina.
