Hi collegiettes!
For my first article with Her Campus, I want to talk about something very important: the first female officer to complete the 13-week Infantry Officer Course.
Although her name has not been disclosed yet, she will nonetheless be remembered for making history. This program was first opened to women in January of 2016 when former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened all military occupations to women. So far, 36 women have tried their hand at this grueling program known as IOC (Lamothe). The training is considered to be some of the military’s toughest with 25% of students washing out (Lamothe). While these are huge steps toward opening new doors for women, there is still some progress to be made.
As women begin to prove that they are able to get through these rigorous programs, the culture surrounding them in the military has not changed. Just earlier this year, a scandal broke where a Facebook group known as Marines United had explicit pictures of female service members (July 10 and News). This scandal reached all branches of the military and 89 people were found to be a part of sharing these pictures (July 10 and News).
The Department of Defense estimated in their own report of the Fiscal Year of 2016 that 2/3 of service members did not report their sexual assault (FY16_SAPRO_Annual_Report). Fifty-eight percent of Department of Defense women indicated that they experienced reprisal, ostracism, and/or maltreatment after reporting sexual assault (FY16_SAPRO_Annual_Report). The culture of how women are treated in the military needs to change.
This strong woman who made it through the Infantry Officer Course that many of her male counter-parts failed will still be questioned; she will have to continue to prove herself despite passing the necessary tests. There are people out there watching to see if she will fail. But there is hope! With her success, she continues the victories of women who broke barriers before her and inspires the next group of women to question the norm.
Sources and Photos via:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/10/marine-charged-after-nude-photo-sharing-scandal.html.
http://sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/FY16_Annual/FY16_SAPRO_Annual_Report.pdf
http://centralcoastwomenmarines.com/mcjrotc
http://centralcoastwomenmarines.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/WMAOrg.14353926_std.png