Photo By Cpl. Adeline Smith | Lance Cpl. Viviana R. Martinez, a Yuba City, California, native, works at her desk...... read more read more
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CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan — Female Marines have an opportunity to contribute to a study to integrate them into supporting ground combat units taking place at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force is a battalion comprised of approximately 500 Marines, a fourth of them being females, under a yearlong volunteer program designed to evaluate female Marines under combat arms predeployment conditions to see whether or not they are capable of handling the mental and physical stressors that come with combat deployments, according to Marine Administrative Message 252/14.
Before being integrated into the combat arms unit, the Marines will first have to go through the Marine Corps’ Infantry Training Battalion course at Camp Lejeune. Once completed, they will be assigned to a school that trains Marines for combat related military occupational specialty.
As one of the volunteers selected for the program, Lance Cpl. Viviana R. Martinez, a supply administration and operations specialist with Marine Wing Communications Squadron 18, Marine Air Control Group 18, will report to the School of Infantry-East to begin training July 22 at Camp Lejeune.
“I got an email from our gunny about volunteering for the program,” said Martinez, a Yuba City, California, native, who will undergo training as a mortarman. “I talked to one of my corporals about going to one of the classes they were holding at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to find out more about it. They let me go the next day and I listened to what they had to say and decided I wanted to sign up.”
To volunteer for the program, female Marines must be a sergeant or below in full duty status; satisfactorily complete a physical fitness test executing a minimum of three pull-ups, a three mile run in under 28 minutes, and perform a maximum of 100 crunches within two minutes; and cannot be pending disciplinary actions.
“It was almost expected that Martinez put her name in for this, and when she did it was like it was just a matter of time,” said 2nd Lt. Alvaro L. Yanes, a ground supply officer with MWCS-18, MACG-18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force. “She’s the Marine that when she makes her mind up to do something, she’s going to do it. Because of her proficiency and her conduct, you expect it to be done because that’s the kind of person she is.”
The waiting time is roughly a month long from the initial sign up to the announcement of selected participants.
“I took it a day at a time,” said Martinez. “Now I’m going to be a mortarman, and I’m going to be training with the infantry. Not every female can go through that. Not every female wants to go through that.”
Martinez was recently sent to the Republic of Korea under an officer’s billet for supply. At the end of the exercise, she was given a commanding general’s coin for excelling in the work she did there, according to Gunnery Sgt. Jorge L. Espinoza, a warehouse clerk with the squadron.
“I’ve been in nearly 20 years, and I’ve known a lot of Marines,” said Espinoza, a San Juan, Puerto Rico, native. “This Marine Corps is dominated by males, so for a woman to do something like this (program) is big. I think she’s got what it takes to do it, and we wish her the best.”
As a woman and a Marine, Martinez recognizes that what she is about to do could potentially open doors for future female Marines, and notes that her strength comes from her dad and her heart from her mother, according to Martinez.
“I talked to my mom about it and she always asks me, ‘Why? Why do you want to go into an infantry unit?’” said Martinez. “And it’s just, why not? My name is going to be somewhere and someone else is going to know me from it. I don’t want to sit here and just wish I went.”
| Date Taken: | 07.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2014 21:56 |
| Story ID: | 135976 |
| Location: | CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, JP |
| Hometown: | SAN JUAN, PR |
| Hometown: | YUBA CITY, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 475 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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