While the Marine Corps has long relied on the unverifiable theory that gender segregation at boot camp is necessary to build the confidence\u00a0of female recruits and successfully train them, decades of data show that the Corps’ model for training women is broken. The\u00a0fact is that female recruits have underperformed for years in every graduation category, largely due to this segregation. If properly\u00a0defined and executed, integration would increase the potential for females to meet the high standards for the infantry and other\u00a0ground combat jobs, improve the caliber and number of female Marines in every job specialty, and improve the organization’s culture\u00a0by fostering a spirit of cooperation and competition across gender lines. The secretary of Defense has ordered the services to open\u00a0all jobs and units to qualified women and the secretary of the Navy recently directed the Marine Corps to integrate recruit training as\u00a0well. It is time to change, Here’s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separate is not equal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, a retiring Marine general predicted that the integration of recruit training and the infantry will result in lower standards. However,\u00a0female recruit graduation statistics for physical fitness, rifle range qualifications, academics and close-order drill clearly indicate\u00a0that women have been held to lower standards for decades. This has been and is the Corps’\u00a0status quo for women. While\u00a0segregated boot camp does expose female recruits to female leaders, it also prevents them from learning from male drill instructors,\u00a0many of whom have significant combat experience. On the dawn of integrating women into combat units, this type of tutoring and\u00a0mentoring is priceless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n In this regard, segregation puts male recruits at a decided tactical advantage and fails to leverage the talent\u00a0base of the drill instructors for the\u00a0betterment of all recruits. Significantly, segregation enables senior male leaders to adopt a “hands\u00a0off” approach to female performance issues and relegates responsibility solely to female officers and drill instructors. Segregation\u00a0imprints the thought within male recruits that females are “the other” and perpetuates the false notion that they are less\u00a0mentally and physically competent. Furthermore, segregation also leads male drill instructors and recruits to believe that females enjoy\u00a0an easier boot camp experience and undermines the accomplishments of both the female recruits and their training staff. This is a\u00a0dangerous practice that has damaged group cohesion and fostered demeaning stereotypes for female Marines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Segregation has also limited training opportunities for women. For example, while there is no biological reason women should not be able\u00a0to best men on the close order drill graduation requirement, there is an architectural reason that explains their underperformance. The\u00a0female recruit compound at Parris Island was constructed to allow women to march in platoons through the passageways from their\u00a0barracks to their classrooms, yet the passageways are too narrow to allow them to march with their rifles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Male compounds, on the other hand, are open in design and allow for male platoons to march with their rifles to and from the barracks,\u00a0classrooms and dining facilities, practicing close order drill along the way. This gives male platoons hours more practice\u00a0marching, drilling and handling weapons handling<\/span>. Integration would provide female recruits greater opportunity to practice marching, drill,\u00a0and weapons handling, increasing their upper body strength and confidence with their weapons as a result. This would make them\u00a0more competitive with the male platoons both in drill and on the rifle range. To anyone familiar with Malcolm Gladwell\u2019s concept of\u00a0“10,000 hours to greatness” will understand the simple logic here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clear expectations allow for relative ease in <\/span>accomplishment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u00a0desegregation of boot camp should be relatively easy to achieve provided that leadership clearly communicates expectations for\u00a0integration. Some misguided critics assume that integration would require female and male recruits to live in the same squad bays, and\u00a0shower and sleep together;\u00a0this is both ridiculous and unnecessary. The fact is that over the past 30\u00a0thirty <\/span>years, the tide of integration at\u00a0Parris Island has ebbed and flowed in keeping with the priorities of the leadership. In the late 1990s, many training events were\u00a0integrated, including the physical fitness test, conditioning hikes and classroom instruction. Integrated training enabled recruits to\u00a0compete against one another and witness both male and female role models. It fostered a spirit of cooperation necessary for unit\u00a0cohesion and winning battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizational change is hard. But reverting back to a level of increased integration could be accomplished easily with little disruption to the\u00a0depot’s organization or training schedule. Following the successful model from the 1990s, the most logical approach to permanently\u00a0integrating recruit training is to implement the change in phases,\u00a0first by integrating actual training-schedule events so that\u00a0female platoons train shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n In this initial phase, female recruit units could maintain an all-female staff and continue to live in the female recruit compound. Following\u00a0breakfast, female platoons could join male recruits for the execution of the day’s training schedule. This change would only\u00a0require additional transition time in the training schedule for the female recruits to march with their weapons from their compound to\u00a0the consolidated academics facility, training area or physical fitness field. Greater organizational integration could then be implemented\u00a0in follow-on phases in a common-sense, well-designed manner, and should include eliminating gender normed physical fitness tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Artificial constraints limit growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the number of enlisted women entering the Marine Corps each year is artificially constrained by throughput capacity of the 4th\u00a0Recruit Training Battalion based on berthing limitations. In a later phase of integration, the Corps should disband the 4th Recruit Training\u00a0Battalion and create integrated battalions. Each of the male recruit training battalions aboard Parris Island now\u00a0currently <\/span>consists of\u00a0three training companies and a headquarters company. Under an integrated construct, the all-male battalions could be reconfigured with\u00a0two male training companies, one female training company and a headquarters company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this later phase of integration, female drill instructors for female recruits would enable same-sex mentorship opportunities and recruits\u00a0would still live in same sex squad bays within the integrated battalion barracks. The novelty of this construct is that it would allow for\u00a0greater selection among the training staff so that the highest caliber personnel, male or female, could be handpicked for the battalion\u00a0commander, sergeant major, company commander and company first sergeant positions. This would expose recruits to strong\u00a0leaders of both genders, set an immediate precedent for respectful relations beyond boot camp, and would eliminate the artificial\u00a0cap on the overall number of enlisted women in the Corps. This phase would enable a change to recruiting methods for women as\u00a0well, with a focus on quality and athletics and would enable the potential for long-term growth of the female population throughout the\u00a0entire Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizational culture would improve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Integration would enhance cooperation and competition between males and females, and would strengthen the foundation of respect\u00a0across gender lines. It would allow recruits to observe each other challenging themselves throughout training and would dispel the\u00a0prevalent myth that training for women is somehow different or easier. In such an environment, there\u00a0would be greater opportunity for\u00a0male and female recruits to push each other to excel while also allowing the male drill instructors, many of whom have never served with\u00a0women, to see female drill instructors working just as hard and at the same level of capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further, recruits of both genders would benefit from having male and female role models with real combat experience. Co-ed training would\u00a0also require male drill instructors to discipline female recruits and female drill instructors to discipline male recruits, thus\u00a0demonstrating that Marines don’t discriminate by gender when it comes to holding others accountable. Finally, integration would\u00a0enable female drill instructors to continue to be mentors for women, while leveraging the talent pool of male and female drill\u00a0instructors and staff for the benefit of all recruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasing lethality of the force<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Segregation breeds neglect. Despite the Corps’ motto “Every Marine a rifleman,” for decades, female recruits have underperformed on the\u00a0rifle range \u2014 both at boot camp and throughout the operating forces. This has had profound implications on the lethality of the force.\u00a0Historically, female recruits have qualified on the M-16 rifle at a 67 to 72 percent pass rate, compared to their male counterparts who\u00a0qualified at an 85 to 92 percent pass rate. As a result, one third or more of every female cohort had to repeat training on the rifle range,\u00a0wasting time and resources and reducing their shooting and weapons handling confidence. With the lack of emphasis on female\u00a0range success rates, it is no wonder that the women who participated in the recent integrated task force experiment did not perform\u00a0up to the level of the males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, game-changing improvements were made to the female rifle range training by eliminating bias with the male coaches, focusing\u00a0the female drill instructors on augmenting the efforts of the coaches, and raising expectations for recruit performance. The result?\u00a0In a few\u00a0months’ time, the female initial rifle qualification rate rose to just under 92 percent. The changes also resulted in a\u00a0significantly higher number of women qualifying as experts, and dramatically enhanced the perception of what women were capable of\u00a0achieving. Improving female shooting performance also fostered a healthy and unprecedented spirit of competition between male and\u00a0female platoons on the rifle range. Given the Marine Corps’ mission to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy, the importance of\u00a0improvements to marksmanship scores for women cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An unprecedented opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is an historic opportunity for the Marine Corps to fundamentally improve how we indoctrinate men and women into our culture at recruit\u00a0training. Senior leaders today have an unprecedented opportunity to fully leverage the talent base of all drill instructors and junior\u00a0officers while ensuring all recruits are held to the same high standards for performance, regardless of gender. In making this change,\u00a0the Corps will increase the potential for females to meet the high standards for the infantry and other ground combat jobs, improve\u00a0the caliber and number of female Marines in every job specialty throughout the operating forces, and reduce male resistance to\u00a0women serving in new roles. As the secretary of the Navy understands, the integration of recruit training will unleash the potential of all\u00a0Marines and increase the lethality of the force. It’s time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lt. Col. Kate Germano commanded 4th Recruit Training Battalion, the service’s only all-female recruit battalion,\u00a0at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, from June 2014 to June 2015. She also served as\u00a0commanding officer of\u00a0Recruiting Station San Diego from\u00a0June 2007 to June 2010. She currently serves as\u00a0presiding officer of the Naval Clemency and Parole Board at the Washington Navy Yard.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senior leaders have an opportunity to leverage the talents of drill instructors and junior officers, and ensure all recruits are held to the same high standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":41796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1824],"class_list":["post-61983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LOEBQ3FMJ5DA7DGIG4XTQ2SZVU","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/2016\/01\/20\/integration-of-marine-corps-recruit-training-one-shot-to-get-it-right\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n