New U.S. Marine Corps recruits starting training this month at Marine Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina will be the first Marines ever to have fully combined male and female platoons.
“On January 5, 2019, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, will start their training cycle with one female platoon and five male platoons,” the Marine Corps said in a statement Friday, first reported by ABC News.
While other service branches have already fully integrated men and women during recruit training, the Marine Corps has yet to do so. According to a Marine Corps spokesperson, the move isn’t permanent but the Marines Corps “will certainly look at how the company performs in this model as we continually evaluate how we make Marines.”
The decision to mix the battalions was made because there are not as many recruits during the winter. Although the Marine Corps claims 60 percent of recruit training is already gender-integrated or co-located, the 50 female recruits at Parris Island will now live alongside their male counterparts in the barracks. However, they will still have female drill instructors.
“The decision was made by Marine Corps leadership in support of training efficiency and is a first in the history of Marine Corps recruit training,” the Marine Corps said in the statement.
“This training cycle of about 300 recruits will provide Recruit Depot staff a unique opportunity to assess outcomes, achievements and challenges in training, logistics and resource impacts of this company training model,” the statement said.
Of all the service branches, the Marine Corps has the fewest women. According to CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization located in Arlington, Va., 7.5 percent of Marine Corps officers and 8 percent of Marine Corps service members were women in 2016.
