Mind-boggling Obstacle: The Shocking Struggle to Combine Men’s and Women’s Basic Training in the Marines!

It was a bit luck of the draw.

As groups of men and women train together at the ring, on the obstacle course or at the shooting range, the line of recruits outside the pool creates a sharp contrast. There the companies are divided into their smaller platoons, which remain separated by gender. As they line up, a small group of women stand bolt upright at the front, followed by groups of men in formation behind them.

It is a stark visual reminder that Corps leaders still firmly believe that there must be some degree of segregation as they mold young people into the forces of tomorrow, who they see as the few, the proud, the Marines propagate.

This summer — nearly eight years after then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter — ordered that all combat professions would be open to women – The Marine Corps has officially deactivated the 4th Marine Recruit Training Battalion on Parris Island. Since 1949, all female recruits have gone through boot camp at the base in South Carolina. The 4th Battalion was formed in 1986 as a women’s unit.

The Marines have moved reluctantly toward integration. Naval leaders flatly refused to allow women into combat jobs, but Carter rejected their arguments. Many Corps officers strongly defended training segregation, insisting that women could become more confident more quickly if they did not compete directly with their often larger or stronger male counterparts.

Under pressure from Congress, the Marines gradually co-opted the 4th Battalion over the past four years, then disbanded it in June. The remaining recruit battalions include a mix of gender-integrated and all-male companies.

Now, Navy leaders say, the boot camp is integrated.

But if you look at the training over several days, it’s not so clear.

In the pool, men and women fight side by side by jumping from a platform and swimming to the other end. Some wear their fatigues inside out, identifying them as Marines just learning to swim, rowing the length of the pool in a mix of dog paddles and random overhand strokes. The instructors are also a mix of men and women and stand at the sides, ready to throw or jump in a float if necessary.

But outside, a group of recruits move through the forest and then drop to crawl across a scorching sand – all men trying to pass the final tests to become Marines. A second group in a different part of the course also does not include women.

Brig. Gen. Walker Field, who runs the recruit depot, insists that separating platoons by gender is key to the way the Corps trains Marines — by taking individuals, breaking them up and rebuilding them into team members.

“We have established a proven method by which we train Marines that has proven effective in transforming young Americans,” he said in a recent interview on Parris Island. “We break down their individuality and develop them as a team. We are convinced of this result. The platoon model is definitely part of it.”

He added that by 2024, training at Marine Recruit Depot San Diego on the West Coast will also be fully integrated. The female recruits are then divided evenly between the two locations.

Field said having platoons all of one gender allows unit leaders to provide guidance and instructions tailored to each group when they are together in their barracks in the evenings. “Because we have the same gender at the platoon level, we can optimize the training schedule every single day and every hour of the day,” he said.

A certain level of all-male companies would definitely be necessary as there are simply not enough female recruits. Of all the military services, the Corps has the lowest proportion of women, between 8% and 9%.

Lt. Col. Aixa Dones and other female officers are also strong supporters of continued racial segregation.

“As someone who came through this battalion as a recruit and worked here as a young company officer, I would advocate that having all-female platoons is a good thing,” said Dones, who served as the 4th Battalion’s final commander before its closure this year.

Speaking in the former battalion’s offices, now mostly empty, she said she remembered her time as a young recruit and “I can’t imagine it would have been any different.” She noted that 17- and 18-year-olds are not all that mature, saying they can easily be distracted by “favorites, feelings and emotions.”

She and others say putting men and women on separate trains helps them stay focused and that the transition to full integration could pose problems.

Out near the firing range, Sgt. Maria Torres, a drill instructor, works on firearms basics with her all-female platoon. Integration at the corporate level is necessary and a good start, she said. But expanding to the platoon level could have consequences, so “we have to start small.”

But many have a different opinion. They say the separate trains only reinforce the stigma that women are not seen as equal and should be treated differently.

Erin Kirk, a former Marine sergeant who completed the more segregated training in 2010, remembers the taunts and cat calls from male recruits who looked down on the women in the 4th Battalion. The divide, she said, divided them into “male Marines” and “female Marines,” which shaped the men’s view of the women and made it harder for them to work together moving forward.

“You felt like you weren’t part of the team. It made it difficult to be considered a true Marine,” said Kirk, who served for five years. “Now we have the opportunity to achieve equity and inclusion and not be seen as ‘other’.”

Another female Marine officer, still on active duty and serving for more than 15 years, said her first surprise as a new recruit was when she was handed her uniform and realized it was not the same as the one her male recruiter wore.

Her uniform didn’t have the same collar and the hat was different. And when she arrived on Parris Island, “the first class I got was how to do my hair.” We train to be the deadliest force, and the first thing you learn is how to do my hair .”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid any repercussions because she is still in the Corps.

When asked about these complaints, Dones disagreed that segregation caused problems for women.

“Our female platoons outperformed our male teams, and we had more female graduates than male,” she said.

Young female recruits, who typically come from high schools where there is little segregation, acknowledge the differences but express no complaints.

Nicole Momura, 22, said she chose the Marines because she thought it was the most difficult military branch and “this recruit was looking for something bigger than herself.” She shrugged off the separation from the platoon and noted that “all of us in the fleet will work together.”

Nubia Delatorre, 19, said she is proud to be a member of Bravo Company’s second female platoon, but admits that men and women don’t interact much. “We’re not allowed to talk to the men,” she said.

Delatorre took a short break from her workout at the gym, where she was recovering from a stress fracture in her hip, and said she believes they all do the same workout. She said she joined the Marine Corps because “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do something difficult.”