Marine Corps is getting its first female infantry officer

The Marine Corps will soon have its first female infantry Officer in their 250-year history. Military officials said after the unidentified woman graduates on Monday from the Infantry Officer Course, she will officially receive the title. She is already a lieutenant and has passed the extensive course with flying colors while other women have started, but never completed the training.

The Marine Corps Training and Education Command specified that four female Marine officers volunteered and attempted the Infantry Officer Course after it was opened to women in April 2016.

The officer, who is graduating on Monday, is the first woman to ever complete the training, but her name is being withheld until after the graduation next Monday.

Not many complete training

The woman is the first of three dozen women who have attempted to pass the course which has been described as one of the toughest training courses in the military. About 25 percent of men and women who enroll in the 13-week program course drop out before completing it. About 10 percent of all candidates fail the very first day of the course. The first phase consists of an endurance test and skills assessments. Students are required to carry loads weighing 150 pounds or more on their backs under all kinds of adverse conditions.

The most difficult training in the military is designed to test the candidate's leadership ability, character, and strength. A great number of those who start out with the training decide that it is not for them after all. Most students give up and move on to something less challenging.

Duties of the new position

The woman and her male colleagues completed the three-week combat exercise last Wednesday.

After the graduation in Quantico, Virginia on Monday, everyone will be identified, including the name of the only woman who completed the training. It was made possible because the restriction for women was lifted two years ago during the Obama administration in an effort to make the military more inclusive.

It will be an honor for the female lieutenant to be given the position because 32 women had attempted to take the Infantry Officer Course and no woman had completed it until now.

The duties of the new infantry officer include leading a platoon of about 40 infancy Marines.

The Marine Corps is honored to have a female infantry officer among its ranks at last. Completion of the tough Infantry Officer Course is evidence that she will be able to handle all the duties that go along with the new position.