US Marines Co-Ed Boot Camp?????

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Day-Tripper

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Oh my god, it's true. Sigh. Parris Island will never be the same.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...ke-boot-camp-coed-remove-man-from-titles.html

"Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has given Marine Corps brass two weeks to submit a plan to train male and female recruits together at boot camp and fully integrate officer candidate school.

He's also calling for the Marines to make all job titles gender-neutral as the service opens currently closed ground combat jobs to women.

In a Jan. 1 memo obtained by Military.com and first reported by Marine Corps Times, Mabus ordered the Corps to send him a detailed plan by Jan. 15 for making boot camp and officer training coed. He also requested that the Marines provide him with a "subject matter expert" on the issue. The plan should identify where training is already integrated by gender, where it is separate, and how the Marines will work to fully integrate all training, Mabus said."
 
That should be interesting.I went through boot camp at MCRD San Diego in 1984. When a female was within sight we were stopped and told to to do an about face. We were almost never allowed to even look at a female or WM. Times are a changing.....
 
I went to Parris Island. Those are all open squad bays, and people traverse through the bathrooms to get from one platoon to the other.

Good luck on that!
 
DD is AF enlisted and she had a co-ed biit camp experience for the most part. I don't recall her ever saying anything bad about the experience.
 
Tempest, meet teapot. If the Navy can retrofit skinny metal tubes full of hardware and wiring and missiles to accommodate women, the Marines can retrofit a bunch of barracks. No, it's not as simple as this, but I have full confidence that the service that stood fast at Belleau Wood and Iwo Jima can figure out how to bring their military training for recruits into the 20th - even the 21st - century. :cool:
 
Eh. Army has had coed basic training for decades. It's not a big deal.

I thought it was segregated coed, not a fully intergrated? Is it coed down to squad level? Back in early 90s, it was at company level (i.e female company and male company) at Fort Jackson.
 
It's more than just the "co-location" that the USMC currently practices, but is only integrated to company level. Typically, there will be 3 platoons of males and one of females per company. All training is together and identical. That's my experience, at least.
 
Not shower buddies? I was going to see if they would take a 55 year old ex Navy E-4.
 
Yeah. A lot depends on what they mean by fully integrated. Unfortunately I can see the political idiots taking it too far where women start washing out more often.
 
Yeah. A lot depends on what they mean by fully integrated. Unfortunately I can see the political idiots taking it too far where women start washing out more often.

I just don't see this being allowed to happen for very long. We need to get to 25% female representation in every service, in every military occupation. It's a critical percentage. Ray Mabus says so.

25% minimum, that is.
 
It may not be a big deal to the Army, but it is a big deal to Marines.

Understood. A culture change is always difficult - I wasn't trying to imply it wouldn't be. But, I believe the outcome will be perfectly boring and anti-climatic, much like the repeal of DADT.
 
Understood. A culture change is always difficult - I wasn't trying to imply it wouldn't be. But, I believe the outcome will be perfectly boring and anti-climatic, much like the repeal of DADT.

I attended Bootcamp at PI many years ago. I cannot see how coed'ing the series will make it any better. Everything in bootcamp is a competition, there is no way a platoon of women will beat a platoon of men in pugil sticks, the PFT, or for the most part anything physical. I grant you that, they can win the marching, the knowledge tests, the uniform inspections etc, but the mission of the Marine Corps is to find the enemy and destroy them.

What do those burecrats in DC want to do, soften our most respected band of warriors? When is this PC crap going to end?
 
@DevilDog , I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, but I think the question is "better for whom?" Women are Marines , too. If the level of their training will be improved by training with men, how is that not an improvement? And conversely, how does training alongside women degrade the level of training male Marines receive?

I know the Marines by reputation only, but I find it difficult to believe they'll alter the structure or tenor of boot camp simply because two genders are being trained at the same time.
 
@DevilDog , I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, but I think the question is "better for whom?" Women are Marines , too. If the level of their training will be improved by training with men, how is that not an improvement? And conversely, how does training alongside women degrade the level of training male Marines receive?

I know the Marines by reputation only, but I find it difficult to believe they'll alter the structure or tenor of boot camp simply because two genders are being trained at the same time.

If they make both genders have to adhere to the same standards and qualifications, I doubt there will be many WM's going forward. I really do not have problems with women in the military, or even in combat roles, but, I would prefer them being in planes, tanks, etc... Not in a foxhole. Maybe I am just old fashioned, but, I would be willing to bet most Marines do not want this to happen.
 
You may be correct, but regardless of the mos of the women being trained, I still don't see how training simultaneously with the men during boot camp harms anyone.

And, as far as "equal standards", I completely agree on task-oriented items, but why should training location dictate pt standards? Most people are perfectly ok with different pt standards for different age ranges - why not for different genders? Its "ok" if a 40yr old man doesn't have the strength to carry someone 100 yds, but not if it's a 22 yr old woman? That's a completely different kind of double standard.

I think we as a military community need to lose a little of the outrage that's so common over standards, genders, etc., and work to make sure that the policies and programs in place maximize our effectiveness and readiness. Period. Does coed vs non really impact either? I can't see how it would.
 
sounds like a problem(s) that need to be solved with or without the proposed changes.
 
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