“There is certainly nothing magical or attractive about fighting. It’s hard, dirty, unpleasant work. But I believe that women don’t want to fight any more than our men. They merely ask for the opportunity to share the full burden of defense, should the need arise.”

COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS LOU WILSON, SPEAKING TO THE WOMEN MARINES ASSOCIATION CONVENTION IN AUGUST 1976

When I started the research for this post, I had no idea where it would lead. As I dug deeper, my head began to spin. So much had changed. I was aware that three women had graduated. I was unaware that some of the standards which the Marine Corps fiercely defended in 2014 and 2015 had changed.

Initially, I thought a blog post would be sufficient to cover this topic. I discovered that several topics deserve a more in-depth discussion. I have attempted to be comprehensive without turning this into a book itself.

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The Infantry Officer’s Course (better known as IOC) was an intensely controversial topic during the research period. Senior Marine leaders were consistently apprehensive that Congress or the Defense Secretary would attempt to tell the Marine Corps how to run its school, or worse, make them lower the standards at that school. (That never happened)

Why is IOC such a big deal? At the Marine Corps’ heart lies the infantry. Most of us think of the infantry when we picture a United States Marine. Infantry Marines with whom I spoke admitted they chose the infantry either because they thought that was all the Marine Corps did, or that if they were going to be a Marine, they might as well go for the toughest job. Every Commandant (with two exceptions)¹ has been an infantry officer. It remains the primary route to become a general. It is also one of the most physically demanding jobs in the Marine Corps.

The original intent (see How It All Began) with opening ground combat specialties was to enable more women to enter senior ranks (i.e. general officer). In the Marine Corps, that meant infantry. In 2012, the Marine Corps began allowing female officers to go through IOC on a volunteer basis. The purpose was to gather data on the women’s performance. Any volunteers would attempt the thirteen-week course, but they would not become infantry officers. Their data would be collected, and put together as part of the larger documentation sent to the Commandant when all research was complete.

What makes IOC so grueling? The course is designed to train officers but also to stress them – for them to demonstrate their mettle. These young officers may one day lead Marines in combat. In the years of Iraq and Afghanistan, this was almost assured. As one former course director said,

“If they (your Marines) could have been following you today, would they be proud of what they saw? . . . Did you lose your composure? Did you panic? . . . Would the platoon you might one day have the privilege of commanding say, ‘Yes, that’s who I want leading me’. Or would they be embarrassed by you?”

Maj. George Flynn, former director of the Infantry Officers Course²

The course was designed to be hard, but how hard did it need to be? Something important to remember is that officers at 22 or 23 years old will lead Marines younger than they, and also much older and more experienced than they. When I was a second lieutenant, one master sergeant joked with me that he had been in the Marine Corps longer than I had been alive. How do these infantry officers gain credibility and respect without years of experience?

Through proving how much they are willing to endure, and how much they are capable of doing. It’s also about how aggressive they prove themselves to be.

In 2015, 60 Minutes published a report on IOC. In this behind-the-scenes look, viewers saw just how difficult IOC was. You see Marines running through the Obstacle Course with packs on their backs. You see Marine officers on their knees, moving towards each other to wrestle. Why were they on their knees? To reduce the likelihood of getting hurt. The training is so intense, for the entire thirteen weeks, that one officer told 60 Minutes he lost a total of thirty pounds.

If they did get hurt, they kept training. One officer had a broken nose; another had blood running down his face. When asked, Major Scott Cuomo said, “Nobody cares”.³ The ability to be hurt and keep going, the willingness to be aggressive and to withstand aggression, seemed fundamental to success at IOC.

The research protocol enabling women to attend IOC noted the Combat Endurance Test (CET) and passing five of six evaluated hikes (with packs as heavy as 170 pounds) for successful course completion.⁴ These two events caused women the greatest challenge.

The Combat Endurance Test (CET) occurs on the very first day of IOC. The full day event tests the knowledge officers should have learned during their previous six months at the Basic Officer’s Course. It does so under extreme conditions, requiring strength and endurance, “. . . Marines to hike miles with combat loads weighing 80 pounds or more and complete an obstacle course that includes scaling a 20-foot rope multiple times and getting over an eight-foot bar” while navigating with compass and map, deciding when (and if) to eat or drink.⁵

IOC first introduced the CET in 1994, but it was not a requirement to pass. It was simply designed to test knowledge and decision-making under challenging conditions. However, in 2012 (the same year the first women started to arrive), the Marine Corps made passing the CET a requirement.⁶ The vast majority of women failed the CET, and never got past Day 1. A handful of women did eventually get through the CET, but would fail in the first two weeks of training.

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Where did they fail? Hiking under load. Hiking is an integral part of any infantry Marine’s life. At IOC, officers are pushed to prove they can carry heavy loads. Marines carry weapons, helmets, ammunition, food, water, first aid kits and other items. Weights have naturally increased as protective armor got heavier (due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan).

The topic of “hiking under load” deserves its own blog post. For years (decades) the Marine Corps and Army have sought ways to reduce the load on infantry troops. We have known for nearly a century that too much weight fatigues infantry before they even get to the battle – decreasing combat effectiveness. Yet weights continue to increase – both because of better protective armor and because (sometimes) when weight does get taken away, it gets replaced with something else (more ammunition).⁷

Between 2012-2015, no women graduated from IOC. Most of the women failed the first day. The eight that did lasted no more than two weeks. “All eight who passed the CET were later eliminated during hikes when loads began to exceed 100 pounds.”⁸ A lot of men failed as well:

• 29 women started the course, 0 graduated (0% graduation rate);
• 978 men started the course, 692 graduated (67% graduation rate).⁹

At the time, the Marine Corps was proud of this attrition rate. Senior leaders often quoted the high attrition rate for men as evidence that the course was inherently challenging – for anyone. When 60 Minutes asked (then) Brigadier General George W. Smith, Jr. if he would change anything, even if it was just one thing to greater assure women getting through, he replied, “I think the Infantry Officer’s Course is designed just right”.¹⁰

One woman finally did make it through. In September 2017, Marina Hierl graduated and went on to be an infantry platoon commander. The men’s graduation rate for that course was again 67%.¹¹

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A few months later, the Marine Corps dropped the requirement to pass the CET and lowered the number of evaluated hikes from five to three. It also dropped the weight required for each hike.

Though the Marine Corps claimed that the changes were made, “to more accurately replicate today’s real-world requirements”, the Corps also admitted that it “had struggled to meet its goals in graduating an adequate number of infantry officers”. The Marine Corps wanted the IOC attrition rate closer to 5-10%, not the 25-30% that it had been.¹²

According to Lieutenant General Michael G. Dana,

“the standards that were implemented at IOC were done by a local commander, you know based on his experience, but we’re breaking people … we were putting 150-160 pounds on Marines and breaking them at a very young age,”

LtGen Michael Dana, Headquarters Marine Corps¹³

Injuries are nothing new in the infantry. When the Commandant made his request to the Defense Secretary in 2015 to keep women out of the infantry, he cited injuries as one of the reasons. For the male infantry Marines, injuries are simply the cost of doing business. The culture encourages Marines to push themselves past the point of injury, even in training. When I attempted to raise the issue of male injury rates, no one was interested in discussing it. (Injuries – for women and men – also deserve their own blog post)

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Few want to discuss the long term implications. Whether a Marine spends four years or forty in the infantry, they will likely feel the effects for a lifetime. It’s common to find generals with double knee or hip replacements. Back and shoulder surgeries are commonplace. Younger Marines may find themselves no longer able to serve in the infantry or medically retired. The same toughness that got them through training often results in lifelong musculoskeletal injuries.

As of today, three women have graduated from IOC.¹⁴ The first departed the Marine Corps as a captain, after completing her initial commitment.

It takes about thirty years to grow a general – for a second lieutenant to rise through the ranks and acquire the years of experience required of a general officer. A host of challenges must be overcome before the first woman becomes an infantry general. A career in the Marine Corps is hard, a career in the infantry even more so. The Marine Corps has looked at talent management in the past, at ways it could encourage more talented, promising young officers (men and women) to stay. Little real change came from those previous efforts. Commandant Berger recently stated that talent management is his number one priority.He proposed a number of ideas unheard of in previous eras.¹⁵ Perhaps significant change will occur.

For the Marine Corps to see its first female infantry general officer, it will have to work as hard to keep her, as she will have to work to stay.

**In an effort to keep this blog post a reasonable length, I have omitted several larger discussions. Hiking under load, injuries, talent management and others will all receive the attention of individual posts.

REFERENCES

¹General Leonard Chapman, an artillery officer, served as the 24th Commandant from 1968-1971 and General James Amos, an aviator, served as the 35th Commandant from 2010-2014.

²“In a first, 3 women pass Marines Combat Endurance Test, toting 80-lb. packs“; Mulrine, Anne; The Christian Science Monitor; 3 oct 2014.

³“A Few Good Women“; Walsh, Mary; 60 Minutes; 15 Mar 2015.

⁴“Assessment of Training Performance at the Infantry Officer Course” Research Protocol; Pappa, Leon; Training and Education Command; U.S. Marine Corps; Jun 2014.

⁵“Marine Corps Quietly Drops Major Obstacle to Female Infantry Officers“; Hodge Seck, Hope; Military Times; 11 Feb 2018.

⁶“Infantry Officer Course lowers requirement for hikes“; Snow, Shawn; The Marine Corps Times; 21 Feb 2018 and “Marine Corps Quietly Drops Major Obstacle to Female Infantry Officers“; Hodge Seck, Hope; Military Times; 11 Feb 2018.

⁷Marshall, S.L.A. “Soldier’s Load and Mobility of a Nation”, The Marine Corps Association, 1980.

⁸“Marines’ requirements for infantry officers are unrealistic, Army colonel says“; Haring, Ellen; The Marine Corps Times; 15 Oct 2016.

⁹“Marine Corps Force Integration Plan Line of Effort 2 (Expanded ELT Research Studies): Research Assessment & Findings Report”, Training and Education Command, U.S. Marine Corps, 2 Jul 2015.

¹⁰“A Few Good Women“; Walsh, Mary; 60 Minutes; 15 Mar 2015.

¹¹“FIRST FEMALE MARINE GRADUATES INFANTRY OFFICER COURSE“, Press Release, U.S. Marine Corps, 25 Sep 2017.

¹²“Marine Corps Quietly Drops Major Obstacle to Female Infantry Officers“; Hodge Seck, Hope; Military Times; 11 Feb 2018.

¹³“Broken feet and hurt shoulders: Male Marines have far more injuries than women at Infantry Officer Course“; Snow, Shawn; The Marine Corps Times; 11 Oct 2018.

¹⁴“Another female Marine expected to graduate from the Infantry Officer Course Friday“; Athey, Philip; The Marine Corps Times; 14 Dec 2020.

¹⁵Gen David H. Berger, CMC Speaks at the MCA National Breakfast Sept 2021.