Corps officials will be soliciting Marines to volunteer for the latest step in testing the integration of women in combat arms positions across 14 duty stations between May 28 and June 9. Here’s are five things Marines should know: 1. The Corps is looking for about 500 volunteers — women and men — to serve as the ground combat element of an integrated task force that will be stood up at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in June. 2. Marines interested in volunteering can do so three ways: on the Corps’ Manpower and Reserve Affairs website; by calling (703) 432-2513; or…
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Members of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464 are slated to return to Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., on Monday after a seven month deployment to Afghsnitan. While downrange, “The Condors” provided assault support for 16 Marine and 5 coalition units moving a total of 35,000 passengers and 6.5 million pounds of cargo, according to Lt. Col. Alison J. Thompson, the unit’s commanding officer. Check out this video produced by combat cameramen to hear Thompson speak about the unit’s experience downrange. [HTML1]
UPDATE, April 19: Marine Corps Times posted online this morning the story teased below. It’s available here. In 1994, the Pentagon explicitly forbade women from joining combat units, saying they were banned from “assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.” The decree was made even as the military eased restrictions on other fields such as combat aviation, which allowed women to become war-zone pilots for the first time. It has stood for nearly two decades, including throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Change could be in the air,…
