I haven’t been around the USMC during this century.
When I went to boot camp, Vietnam veterans ran the Marine Corps. The commandant was awarded the Medal of Honor for action in WWII.
In the news:
Military.com Jan27, 2025
By Drew F. Lawrence
Marine Corps Full Steam Ahead on Integrating Platoon-Level Drill Instructor Roles
“The Marine Corps quietly directed its recruit depots to integrate male and female drill instructor teams at the platoon level in late 2023, and now the service is full steam ahead with the effort, according to several Marine officials who spoke to Military.com last week.”
“In December 2023, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, a Pentagon entity, recommended that the Marine Corps integrate its platoon-level drill instructors. The committee said that it “believes mixed-gender drill instructor teams are essential to providing recruits training and mentorship from opposite-gender role models as they prepare to enter an integrated operational environment,” according to the report.”
Will male drill instructors do the same at women’s boot camp?
“An all-male platoon will have a drill instructor team made up of two women and two men, for example, though numbers can fluctuate due to manning.”
My understanding is that physical fitness and grooming standards are different for male and female Marines.
Women drill instructors will lead and demonstrate male PT standards at boot camp?
The old, colorful/crude/humorous cadence, that would make you smile while gutting out a run will be demonstrated to males by female drill instructors at boot camp?
Which grooming standards will be demonstrated?
Marine Corps Times Feb 24, 2023
By Hope Hodge Seck
Marines scramble to recruit female drill instructors after COVID slump
“Female drill instructors get shorter breaks to make sure every female recruit cycle gets staffed. And when drill instructors need to drop due to injury or pregnancy, the pressure on remaining staff becomes even more brutal.”
“Most of our female drill instructors lose custody of their children,” an enlisted female Marine Corps training cadre member from Parris Island, South Carolina, told researchers. “Their marriages fall apart, [and] their bodies end up in casts.”
“Female drill instructors at all-male companies likely would be unable to take turns supervising recruits in the squad bays overnight, for example, Montgomery said.”
I am from the last century. I was attracted to the USMC because it was a tradition-oriented organization. Going to boot camp and having foul language yelled at you was a plus. Colorful language was a plus.
Years later, you would smile with Marine buddies while taking turns using the best phrases you had heard along the way.
Has dressing women to look like men had any positive or negative impact on recruiting?
Alternative media is good about asking questions and maintaining open and active comment sections.
Photo:
Platoon 3049, MCRD San Diego
Jun-Sep 1979