Those women would kick all our asses.
Those women would kick all our asses.
waltky (04-07-2018)
1st-Ever Female Infantry Leader: 'She's One of Us'...
Marine Grunts on 1st-Ever Female Infantry Leader: 'She's One of Us'
13 Aug 2018 - The first woman to graduate from the Marine Corps' notoriously grueling Infantry Officer Course is now leading a platoon of male grunts in Australia.
First Lt. Marina Hierl is the only female Marine to lead an infantry platoon in her service's history. About a year after she reported to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, the novelty of it all has worn off a bit -- and she's even left some male grunts rethinking their opinions about women in the infantry. That's according to a new report fromThe New York Times, which recently observed Hierl training her platoon in Australia's Northern Territory. The grunts are deployed there as part ofMarine Rotational Force -- Darwin, which spends half of every year Down Under.
The 24-year-old lieutenant from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, told the Times she didn't know much about the military before joining the Marine Corps. What she did know is that she wanted to do something important with her life. "I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other," Hierl said. When former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced during her sophomore year of college that the policy barring women from serving in the infantry would be lifted, Hierl said she knew what she wanted to do. "I wanted to lead a platoon," she told the Times. "I didn't think there was anything better in the Marine Corps I could do."
Marines participate in an exercise during the Infantry Officer Course at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California
But not everyone was convinced she had what it takes to lead 38 infantry Marines. Others in Echo Company have made sexist cracks about her platoon, The New York Times reported. But those reporting directly to her, even if skeptical at first, quickly recognized her capabilities. Twenty-year-old Lance Cpl. Kai Segura is one of those Marines. In an interview with the Times, he recalled Hierl's speed when leading her Marines back from an exercise in California's Mojave Desert.
Infantry Marines are often leery of any new lieutenant who comes in to lead their platoons, but Hierl quickly showed they were going to have to keep up with her -- not the other way around. "She's one of us," Segura told the Times. Hierl is one of just two women who've completed the Infantry Officer Course; 37 have attempted it. She'll continue operating with 2/4, which includes two enlisted female infantry Marines, in Darwin until the fall. Read more about Hierl's platoon and what they've been up to on their Australian rotationhere.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/...es-one-us.html
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94-Year-Old Who Taught Herself How to Fly Receives Medal13 Aug 2018 - Mary Pat Shely was given a Congressional Gold Medal for her service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — When Mary Pat Shely was young, she taught herself to fly in a Piper Cub bought for her by her father. On Sunday, she was given a Congressional Gold Medal for her service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. The World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the United States Air Force, were awarded the gold medal as a group in 2014. Since then, the organization has worked to find the surviving members of the patrol who served during World War II.
More than 75 years after she joined the patrol in 1942, current Civil Air Patrol members, family members and neighbors gathered at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky to watch Shely receive the medal from Andy Barr, U.S. Representative for Kentucky's Sixth District. "This deserved and distinguished award did not, in the case of the Civil Air Patrol, come without pain or sacrifice," Barr said Sunday. "By the end of World War II, 65 Civil Air Patrol civilian aviators had paid the ultimate sacrifice helping to protect the shorelines of the United States and our merchant vessels against enemy submarine attacks, while actively saving the lives of countless Americans and our allies."
U.S. Representative for Kentucky’s Sixth District Andy Barr presents the Congressional Gold Medal to Mary Pat Shely at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2015 in Lexington. The Civil Air Patrol, which Shely joined in 1942, was awarded the medal for the organization’s service during World War II.
After Shely's service with the Patrol, she went on to be an award-winning athlete and had an accomplished teaching career, said Major Jill Smith said, historian for the Kentucky Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. "On behalf of the citizens of the Sixth Congressional District of Kentucky, and on behalf of the United States Congress and a grateful nation, we sincerely thank you for your courageous service to your country during World War II and for the life you have chosen to live by teaching generations of Americans who came after you," Barr told Shely at Sunday's ceremony. Shely has been very humble, almost secretive about what she did during her time in the patrol, said Jim Stewart, her fourth cousin.
Stewart and his wife, Gail, are among Shely's closest remaining relatives. In 1971, he visited Shely at her family farm in Clark County and has made a point to come down to see her every year since. On Sunday, Jim and Gail Stewart were in from Muncie, Ind., to see Shely receive her medal. "I've heard the stories throughout the years, but you never knew quite the depth and the extent of what she's actually done," Jim Stewart said. "She's very humble, and she doesn't like to be on the forefront, but she's one that very much deserves to be on the forefront because she's some done some amazing, amazing things. And to be able to serve the country during World War II, it's just amazing."
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