Navy Lt. Shannon Stout made history for 2nd Tank Battalion this month when she pinned on the rank of lieutenant commander, making her the unit’s first field grade officer, according to Marine Corps reports.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Stout, the 2nd Tank Battalion medical officer, from Sarasota, Fla., gets her rank pinned on during her promotion ceremony Sept. 4 aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Stout became the first female field grade officer in 2nd Tanks history. (Photo by Pfc. Jose A. Mendez Jr.)
A battalion surgeon, Stout joined the unit in 2012, according to the report. The promotion is significant because the Marine Corps only recently opened a limited selection of billets in ground combat elements, including tank units, to female Marines. Beginning in May 2012, women have been able to serve in 371 new billets within combat units. The change opened more than 14,000 new positions to women. Nearly a third of active-duty positions in Marine units remain closed to women.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Stout, the 2nd Tank Battalion medical officer, from Sarasota, Fla., returns a salute after her promotion ceremony Sept. 4 aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Stout became the first female field grade officer in 2nd Tanks history. Photo by Pfc. Jose Mendez Jr.
“It’s exciting to be the first female medical (field grade) officer with 2nd Tank Battalion, and I am honored to be holding the plank with some other outstanding female Marines and sailors that were also part of the women in combat integration,” Stout told a Marine combat correspondent.
In the report, Stout said that working within 2nd Tanks is “the most fun, the most rewarding and the most frustrating thing I have ever done,” but said other female officers now work near her and she has enjoyed being able to mentor them.
Congratulations, Lt. Cmdr. Stout!
8 Comments
Not to take away from the significance of the LCDR’s accomplishment but the Navy does not have “Filed Grade Officers”. Moreover, an O-4 in the US Navy is a Junior Officer, considered a Senior Officer at O-5 and O-6.
Well…she’s with an FMF unit, so she’s for all intents and purposes a field-grade officer.
Yes she is an 0-4 but no she is not a field grade officer. Being assigned to an FMF unit does not change a few things; 1) She is not a Marine 2) She is not a field grade officer 3) She is a Navy Officer.
Now the decision has to be made, where to put the vanity mirror on a tank?
They won’t need a new mirror. She can just use the same one that males use when they pose with their flexed muscles.
I can see it now 2nd Tank Bn packing list
Tank…. Check
Ammo… Check
Beans… Check
Doc…. Check
OBGYN…..Um?
Here is a perfect example of two stories that should never be thought about in the same sentence. 1) a female Navy 04 who is probably a surgeon assigned to a tank co. She will never see the inside of a tank unless she is getting a tour.
2) a female Navy 04 who is doing a damn good job keeping our fighting MEN in working condition working in a field hospital.
This PC BS blows my mind…………
Female corpsmen have served in various billets among FMF units. This Bn Surgeon is just that and will not drive a tank, work on a tank or lead Marines as she only leads her medical corpsmen. Plus as a non-combat per Geneva Convention she will not be firing any of those weapons.