<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><div>In the words of Bob Dylan . . .</div><div><br></div><div><b>"The Times They are A-changin'"</b></div><div><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Bob_Dylan/Times_are_Changing.mp3">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Bob_Dylan/Times_are_Changing.mp3</a></div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of the Marine Corps Times at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/careers/marine-corps/officer/2016/03/14/female-marine-attempt-infantry-officer-course/81758594/">http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/careers/marine-corps/officer/2016/03/14/female-marine-attempt-infantry-officer-course/81758594/</a></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------</div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><b>Female Marine to attempt Infantry Officer Course</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A female Marine officer is slated to attend the Corps' grueling Infantry Officer Course soon, Marine officials have confirmed.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Capt. Philip Kulczewski, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, declined to release any personal information about the Marine, including her name, rank or when she is expected to attend IOC.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So far, 29 female officers have attempted the course, but no women have graduated.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In January, the Marine Corps announced that more than 200 female enlisted Marines who graduated from Infantry Training Battalion or other military occupational specialty schools previously closed to women could request a lateral move into the jobs for which they qualified. So far, none of those Marines has submitted a lateral move package, Kulczewski said.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">News of the latest female officer to attempt IOC comes days after Defense Secretary Ash Carter approved the Marine Corps’ plan to integrate women into MOSs that had been restricted to men only.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The Marine Corps utilized the time afforded the Services and [U.S. Special Operations Command] to develop a comprehensive plan to fully implement the policy of the Secretary of Defense,” Kulczewski said in a March 10 statement. “As a result of our research, the Marine Corps instituted clearly defined gender neutral, operationally relevant, individual performance standards across the spectrum of Marine training and military occupation system designation, which facilitates the matching of Marines to jobs for which they are best qualified.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has ordered Marine Corps Combat Development Command to prepare for a surge of women who want to train for the newly opened jobs.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Our systematic plan is conditions-based and event-driven, with many actions occurring in the first 12 months,” Kulczewski said. “The progress of this plan will be viewed through three lenses: (1) combat effectiveness, (2) the health and welfare of each Marine and (3) managing the diverse talent of the Corps.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All prospective Marines, or poolees, who want to train for a ground combat arms MOS must pass a tougher initial strength test introduced in January. The test requires poolees to complete three pullups; a 1.5-mile run in 13 minutes and 30 seconds; 44 crunches within 2 minutes; and 45 ammo can lifts within 2 minutes, said 1st Lt. Matt Rojo, a spokesman for Training and Education Command.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At recruit training, both men and women training for those fields will have to complete an MOS classification standard, which consists of six pullups; a 3-mile run within 24 minutes and 51 seconds; completing the maneuver under fire course within 3 minutes and 12 seconds; completing the movement to contact course within 3 minutes and 26 seconds; and 60 ammo lifts within 2 minutes, Rojo said.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A female lieutenant in the Officer Infantry Course hikes July 2 during the initial Combat Endurance Test at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Marine_Corps/Famale_LT_Endurance_Test.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Marine_Corps/Famale_LT_Endurance_Test.jpg</a></div><div><br></div><div>-------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" </span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>