![]() ![]() The first was Opha May Johnson, a 39-year-old typist already working at Marine Corps Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, who enlisted on Aug. 8, 1918, close to the end of the war, it became the last of the branches to enroll women by creating the enlistment of Marine Reservist (F). The Marine Corps – the most pugnacious of the service branches, an organization that proudly considers itself the nation’s elite fighting force, with “first to fight” amphibious capabilities – was initially unenthusiastic about filling these positions with women. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the deployment of young men overseas left thousands of stateside positions, most of them office jobs, unfilled. Of the more than 2,000 women who showed up to the New York recruiting office, only five were accepted. Albert Sydney McLemore, officer in charge of recruiting, referred to those who made the cut as the “100% Girls,” because they had to be perfect for inclusion in the Marine Corps. Thousands of women attempted to enlist, but the selection process was stringent. It wasn’t until more than a century later that the first woman officially wore the uniform of the United States Marine Corps. There’s no evidence that Lucy was a real person, but fictional or not, she’s celebrated as an embodiment of female Marines’ independence and fighting spirit. Lucy Brewer is known to history only through a series of autobiographical pamphlets, published in 18 in New England, recounting the exploits of a Marine sharpshooter – Lucy, disguised as a man and enlisted under the name of George Baker – aboard the USS Constitution during the War of 1812. which may be contacted at ticker BMTM.At Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, one of the side streets near the intersection of Holcomb and McHugh boulevards – Lucy Brewer Avenue – is named for a woman celebrated by some as the first female Marine. The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. ![]() Regardless of how much they weighed or size.” 1st Class Karen Carter, a senior drill sergeant. “A lot of the females, when they started, in the beginning- I would think one way, I’ll be honest with you,” said Sgt. Still, the fact remains that over half made it through the training, ushering in a new era for the United States Army. Leadership attributed the high female attrition rates in the class -nearly fifty percent- to a private’s size and stamina when carrying the standard 35-pound rucksack and combat loads, with most of the women only around or under 5’4 and weighing less than 125 pounds. The females graduated from the 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment last Friday, stepping off Benning’s grounds as the first female junior enlisted infantrymen.Īccording to the Army Times, the new breed have been sent off to new assignments, with some heading to Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division and others awaiting airborne school for their eventual transfer to Fort Bragg’s 82nd Airborne Division. “No way,” one soldier told Popular Military when asked if women were held to the same standards. However, some sources who graduated from within the unit -whom requested concealed identities to protect their new careers- claimed a clear double-standard between males and females in their training cycle, including lighter rucksacks and lower expectations. ![]() But certainly by the end of the cycle, I was doing more push-ups, because I had her chasing me.” It was something that definitely made me better, and maybe kept me up nights a few times. “Speaking as the person who had the second-highest PT score- she had me looking over my soldier the whole cycle. “There was even one female that did better than 90 percent of the males on the PT test,” said one 22-year-old male trainee, who reportedly had high PT scores. That said, there were some women who certainly gave their male colleagues a run for their money. While the attrition rate doesn’t seem all that alarming, it strikes a more concerning tone when factoring in that the females needed only to meet the much-lower female standards for physical fitness that separate them from their previously all-male counterparts. In fact, only eighteen of the thirty-two female infantry recruits made it through the One Station Unit Training (OSUT) program at Fort Benning, Georgia. Albright, Maneuver Center Photographer)Īmerica’s first female Army Infantrymen are here, but not all of them made it through. Army Infantry soldiers-in-training assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, conduct their ‘Turning Blue Ceremony’ where they put on their distinctive blue cords identifying them as infantrymen May 18, 2017, at Sand Hill’s Pomeroy Field. ![]()
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