US Marines Get First Female Infantry Officer

For the first time in the history of US Marines, a woman completes the famously tiring infantry officer training as she graduated from Quantico, Virginia on Monday. But the lieutenant wants to keep her identity hidden, said the Marines in a press statement.

“I am proud of this officer and those in her class‎ who have earned the infantry officer MOS,” said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.

The woman lieutenant is the first one to earn the infantry officer military occupational specialty since the Marine Corps opened all military occupational specialties to women in April 2016.

Proud of this officer & her fellow leaders. Now they focus on what's important: preparing to lead Marines in combat https://t.co/rwWjXKOAf9 pic.twitter.com/RvzTAkuLLI

— David H. Berger (@CMC_MarineCorps) September 25, 2017

Women consist of 15% out of the almost 1.4 million active-duty troops in the US armed forces.

"She did something that is really hard, and it's hard physically and it's hard mentally. But at the same time, too much attention can take away from her operational requirements."

The 13-week officer training began in July with 131 Marines with only 88 marines successfully graduating. The programme is held to teach would-be officers skills in "the leadership, infantry skills, and character required to serve as infantry platoon commanders,” BBC reports. And 10% of the whole lot who go for training miss the cut-off.

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The lieutenant will now join the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, as her first assignment.

Earlier in 2012, the Marines opened its doors for women to work for them as a pilot project. 32 women tried the rigorous course before the research and no one could complete it successfully.

Kyleanne Hunter, a former Marine Corps helicopter pilot told the Strait Times that the Infantry Officer will face two major challenges once she gets her battalion—winning those under her command and dealing with outside attention and criticism.

"I think people are rightfully excited," she said. "She did something that is really hard, and it's hard physically and it's hard mentally. But at the same time, too much attention can take away from her operational requirements. Her first challenge will be to maintain anonymity, for lack of a better term, and just do her job."