More than a year after a mandate for the Pentagon opened previously closed ground combat and
special operations jobs to women, officials say the
Navy has its first female candidates for its most elite special warfare roles.
Two women were in boot camp as candidates for the Navy's all-enlisted Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, Naval Special Warfare Center Deputy Commander Capt. Christian Dunbar told members of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service in June.
Another woman, who sources say is a junior in an ROTC program at an unnamed college, has applied for a spot in the SEAL officer selection process for fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, and is set to complete an early step in the pipeline, special operations assessment and selection, later this summer, he said.
"That's a three-week block of instruction," Dunbar said. "Then the [prospective SEAL officer] will compete like everyone else, 160 [applicants] for only 100 spots."