The first of more than 200 enlisted female Marines who have successfully completed training for combat jobs has requested to join the infantry, Marine Corps Times has learned.
The Marine Corps has not released the woman's name, but Marine Corps Times has learned she is a lance corporal who has applied for a lateral move into an infantry military occupational specialty.
Further information about the Marine or the job she has applied for was not available Friday.
"Since this recent request is still being processed, that's all the information we can offer at the moment," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Philip Kulczewski said.
On March 10, Defense Secretary Ash Carter approved the Marine Corps' gender integration plan, allowing the 233 women who graduated from Infantry Training Battalion or other military occupational specialty schools previously closed to women to apply to join the jobs for which they are qualified.
"These requests take time, and to help put things in perspective, lateral-move processes involve counseling, reviewing physical readiness, completing resident Professional Military Education, individual performance, [competitiveness] in MOS and ultimately [the] needs of the Marine Corps," Kulczewski said in an email to Marine Corps Times. "This process ensures the Marine Corps will adhere to its standards and will continue its emphasis on combat readiness."
Meanwhile in June, the first female poolees who are training for MOSs that had been restricted to men only are expected to ship to recruit training, with female poolees shipping for infantry training starting in October, Marine Corps officials have said.
Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has ordered Marine Corps Combat Development Command to prepare for a potential increase in women attending recruit training and MOS schools for jobs that are now open to both men and women.
And a mobile training team will visit Marine Corps units in May and June to explain the service's gender integration plan.
"This is not sensitivity training," Philip Kulczewski said Tuesday. "The focus will be on the details of the implementation plan and how it affects all Marines' best practices."
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has vowed that women will have to meet the same physical standards for combat jobs as men.
"I will never lower standards," Mabus said Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. "Let me repeat that: Standards will not be lowered for any group! Standards may be changed as circumstances in the world change, but they'll be changed for everybody."
