Marine Lt. Marina Hierl Becomes First Woman to Lead Infantry Platoon

The Marine Corps celebrated the 100th anniversary of women in its service on Monday as one female [...]

The Marine Corps celebrated the 100th anniversary of women in its service on Monday as one female Marine continues to break barriers almost a year removed from becoming the first woman to graduate from grueling officer training.

Last September, First Lt. Marina A. Hierl, who wished to remain anonymous at the time, became the first woman to graduate from the Infantry Officer Course at Quantico, Virginia, a demanding 13-week program Marines are required to complete before leading an infantry platoon.

Nearly a year later, Hierl allowed The New York Times access to follow her making history commanding an infantry platoon of roughly 35 male Marines during training exercises in northern Australia.

The 24-year-old worked on a horse farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania before attending the University of Southern California, the Times reports.

"I wanted to do something important with my life," she told the paper about her decision to join the Marines. "I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other."

Once she learned that then-defense secretary Leon Panetta had lifted the ban on women in combat roles, Hierl said that she knew she wanted to lead a platoon. Two years later, women were finally allowed into the infantry, with the Marines being the last branch of service to integrate women into combat units.

So last fall, when she was among the handful of new lieutenants who reported to duty with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines at Camp Pendleton in California, she was one of only two women out of dozens who had completed the grueling Infantry Officer Course. The other is working through a follow-on intelligence school, which would make her the Marine Corps' only female ground intelligence officer — if completed.

Women make up only about 8 percent of the Marine Corps, by far the lowest percentage of any branch of military when compared to the Army, Navy and Air Force. Since 2001, more than 15,000 female Marines have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ten women have lost their lives in combat.

Even after completing the officer training, it wasn't easy for Hierl, who was met at Echo Company at first with skepticism — although the Times reports that she was quietly accepted by her fellow platoon commanders.

The commanding officer of Echo Company, Capt. Neal T. Jones, said that he asked that she be sent to his unit when he learned Lt. Hierl had been assigned to the battalion.

"If you're the first to do something, that implies you have so many positive traits," Capt. Jones said. "And that's not always the case when it comes to every lieutenant — including myself."

The Times reported that even in allowing the paper to embed a journalist in her infantry unit, Lt. Hierl sidestepped interviews and spoke sparingly for the article, insisting that she needed to focus on her job and on the Marines under her command. She said that she wants to be seen by the Marines in her platoon as a leader, not as a trailblazer because of her gender.

"She's one of us," Lance Cpl. Kai Segura agreed.

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