[HOSTED.AP.ORG] Female infantry Marines will be sleeping in makeshift shelters next to their male counterparts when out in the field and no special accommodation will be offered to them, a Marine Corps official said Thursday.
When I was in the army thirty years ago we had several snappy looking female officers in our battalion (enlisted, too, for that matter). We shared accommodations in the field pretty routinely. We were always too tired by the time we got to get in any sleep for any hanky panky.
Marines in the field stay in everything from a large, single room shelter filled with dozens of cots to sleeping under tarps or nothing at all, said Maj. Charles Anklam III, executive officer for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina - the first gender-integrated Marine infantry battalion.
Female Marines have private rooms and bathrooms in their living quarters, and female bathrooms have been added to buildings where Marines work. But female Marines will be expected to share any living spaces with male squad members in the field to keep unit cohesion and replicate battlefield conditions, he said.
"We're not changing our tactical posture or changing how we operate to accommodate the inclusion of female Marines," Anklam said.
The battalion accepted its first three females in early January, marking the first time the Marine Corps has put three enlisted women in a ground combat unit once open only to men. They will serve as a rifleman, machine gunner and mortar Marine.
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