Male and Female Marines to Share Tents in the Field

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“We’re not changing any of our tactical posture or breaking unit cohesion or adjusting anything to accommodate mixed genders while we’re operating in a field environment replicating tactical conditions,” said Maj. Charles Anklam III, executive officer for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

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“Our female Marines will find themselves side-by-side their male counterparts in a fighting hole or in their living conditions for the execution of field or deployed duties,” he said in a Jan. 20 interview.

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When in their barracks, all of the female Marines have their own rooms, which include their own shower and bathroom, Anklam said. The battalion has had to make some adjustments in buildings where both women and men now work, he said.

“Typically you’ll find within an infantry battalion like in this building, we’ve got a downstairs and an upstairs head facility,” he said. “We’ve been able to allocate one of those for the use of female members and then the other for male members.”

So far, the battalion has not experienced any unexpected challenges to integrating the women into the unit, said Lt. Col. Reginald McClam, battalion commander.

Before the women arrived, the battalion had several discussions with officers and noncommissioned officers about how the female infantry Marines would become part of the unit, McClam said.

“We placed a continued emphasis on the corporal through first lieutenant because that’s the small unit leadership, the middle management, that really is critical in carrying out my commander’s intent and the policy and guidelines of Headquarters Marine Corps,” he said.

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“This is what I told the staff,” McClam said, “I joined the Marine Corps to lead Marines and sailors. I didn’t take an oath of office that said I was going to lead male Marines or female Marines or male sailors or female sailors. I said I would lead Marines.”

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