<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">Waiting for the first female soldier to assume duties at my last duty position prior to retirement . . . Platoon Sergeant . . . 2nd Platoon . . . Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry (Mechanized) . . . Harvey Barracks (Kitzingen, Germany). <i>Those were the days, my friend.</i></div><div dir="ltr"><br><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">Courtesy of the <i>Marine Corps Times </i>at:<div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2020/02/25/first-female-infantry-marine-officer-leaves-corps-as-commandant-calls-for-more-women-at-infantry-officer-course/">https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2020/02/25/first-female-infantry-marine-officer-leaves-corps-as-commandant-calls-for-more-women-at-infantry-officer-course/</a></div><div><br></div><div>———————————————-</div><div><br></div><div><h1 class="m-articleHeader__headline a-heading4 a-heading3--on-small a-heading2--on-medium a-heading1--on-large" itemprop="name" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.073em; line-height: 1.0854; margin: 0px; font-family: var(--atype-theme-heading-font, serif);">First female infantry Marine officer leaves Corps as commandant calls for more women at Infantry Officer Course</h1></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger on Friday took to Twitter to announce his goal of having more female Marine officers attend the Corps’ grueling 13-week Infantry Officer Course, known as IOC.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">His announcement came the same week the first woman to pass the course had gone on terminal leave, a Marine Corps spokesman confirmed Tuesday, leaving the Corps with potentially only one qualified female infantry officer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While the Corps saw a 60 percent increase in women serving in ground combat roles in 2019 overall, that growth was nonexistent when it came to infantry officers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Since ground combat jobs were opened up to women in 2016, only nine women have attempted IOC ― the required school for infantry officers ― and only two have passed, Teresa Ovalle, a spokeswoman for Marine Corps Training and Education Command, told Marine Corps Times Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Finding female officers to volunteer for the course remains difficult for the Corps, which has just one female officer scheduled to attend IOC in 2020, Ovalle said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On Friday the commandant wrote that he wants the Corps to take “immediate action” in identifying company-grade female officers to attend the course.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Capt. Marina A. Hierl was the first female Marine officer to receive the 0302 infantry officer military occupational specialty when she graduated from the course in September 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hierl started her career in the fleet as a platoon commander with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, and eventually ended up as the assistant operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, before going on terminal leave in mid-February, Marine Corps spokesman 1st Lt. Cameron Edinburgh told Marine Corps Times Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The second woman to graduate IOC, in June 2018, is an 0203 ground intelligence office who went on to pass the Corps’ Scout Sniper Unit Leaders Course, putting her on a path to potentially lead a sniper platoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In June 2019, she was serving as the assistant intelligence officer with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, Marine Corps Times previously reported.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Marine Corps has not yet been able to confirm to Marine Corps Times that the ground intelligence officer is still in the same role.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">——————-</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">Photo . . . </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Marine_Corps/MC_Times_022820.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Marine_Corps/MC_Times_022820.jpg</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Marines participate in an exercise during the Infantry Officer Course at Quantico, Virginia, Aug. 10, 2017. The first female Marine to complete the course graduated Sept. 25, 2017.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><br></div><div>———————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><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" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</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><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>