Women in the World: Women Can Combat

Brigadier General Loretta E. Reynolds is the first female Marine Corps general in charge of the Marine’s basic training site on Parris Island, S.C. In recent years, Reynolds has graced headlines not only as a result of her title, but also due to her support for the recent overturning of a Pentagon ruling that has historically barred female Marines from combat.

Reynolds grew up in Baltimore, Md. as the youngest of five girls. Realizing her commitment to serve at an early age, Reynolds chose to attend the United States Naval Academy. Graduating in 1986, Reynolds became one of only eight female Marine generals and the first to have graduated from the Naval Academy. Shortly thereafter, Reynolds completed basic training and assumed her first duty assignment at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Most of Reynolds’ experience lays in Marine Corps Communications — a non-combative division of the Marines in which female officers are able to advance. After her assignment at Camp Pendleton, Reynolds was assigned to the Marine Wing Communications Squadron in Okinawa, Japan.

As Reynolds shuffled through different assignments that took her to a variety of national and international bases, she pursued further education within the Marine Corps. These educational opportunities included courses at the Marine Corps University, Naval War College and the U.S. Army War College. In 2004-2005, Reynolds was deployed in Fallujah, Iraq and in March 2010-2011, was located at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan making her the first woman to command a Marine base in a combat zone. In her current role at Parris Island, Reynolds trains all of the Marines’ women and almost half of the men on the base.

Reynolds’ experience in the Marines is exemplary of the increasing instance of female leadership in the army. Recently, women have played a significant role in encouraging the review of legislation that deals with the boundaries of female military involvement.

Since 1918, women have served in the Marine Corps. Initially restricted to clerical duty, women were eventually able to serve in greater capacities and by 1975, were approved to serve in all occupational fields with the exception of infantry, artillery, armor and pilot/air crew.

In January, a 1994 Pentagon ruling that declared that women are restricted from artillery, armor, infantry and other military roles involving combat was overturned by then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. This change had numerous implications for female Corps members. Because serving in combat positions is often crucial to career advancement, women in service had been unfairly restricted from demonstrating the qualities and dedication that combative service requires. With the recent change however, an abundance of additional front-line positions will open to female women in combat, granting them greater military equality.

In commenting upon the most recent case regarding the instatement of women in combat roles, Reynolds explained that she believes that the change will allow women to use the talent that they have always had.