The Veteran Thread

[*Anya*]

First woman enlists to become a Navy SEAL

By Nancy Coleman, CNN

Updated 1:02 AM ET, Sat July 22, 2017

(CNN)A woman will train with other potential officers this summer in hopes of becoming the first female Navy SEAL.

The candidate, a midshipman, and another woman have enlisted as the first female candidates seeking to join the Navy's special operations teams.

The latter is training for the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, or SWCC.

These women have already made history, but they still face a long road ahead of training and tests before they officially make the cut.

Women weren't allowed to serve in combat roles, including special operation forces such as the SEALs and SWCC, until January 2016. But there were no female applicants in the 18 months since that historic change until now.

The candidates' identities and training progress are confidential to protect their personal security and "career viability as future special operator," Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command, told CNN.

Eight SEAL and seven SWCC classes -- all entirely male -- have graduated since March 2016, according to a Naval Special Warfare Center briefing last month for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

The SWCC candidate will undergo months of Navy training and screening evaluations, Walton said. The SEAL hopeful will be evaluated for three weeks at a SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection process in California as a prerequisite to SEAL training before moving on to a SEAL Officer Selection Panel in September.

Aspiring SEALs and SWCC candidates also go through rigorous Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S. The training comes in physically and mentally challenging stages, beginning with two months of intense physical training in Illinois. Candidates must pass a physical screening test at the end of the first stage or face being kicked out.

The next stages include basic conditioning, combat diving and land warfare training. One week during basic conditioning is known as Hell Week -- "the ultimate test of a man's will," according to the SEALs website.

The training is "designed to weed out the weak," as the Navy special operations training website warns. It's an accurate description, considering most candidates don't make it: Seventy-three percent of aspiring SEALs and 63% of SWCC candidates fail to make the cut, according to the Naval Special Warfare Center briefing in June.

There are about 1,000 SEAL candidates who start training every year, Walton said. Usually only about 200 to 250 candidates make it all the way through training.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/21/us/fir...rnd/index.html

[theoddz]

Originally Posted by *Anya*

First woman enlists to become a Navy SEAL

By Nancy Coleman, CNN

Updated 1:02 AM ET, Sat July 22, 2017

(CNN)A woman will train with other potential officers this summer in hopes of becoming the first female Navy SEAL.

The candidate, a midshipman, and another woman have enlisted as the first female candidates seeking to join the Navy's special operations teams.

The latter is training for the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, or SWCC.

These women have already made history, but they still face a long road ahead of training and tests before they officially make the cut.

Women weren't allowed to serve in combat roles, including special operation forces such as the SEALs and SWCC, until January 2016. But there were no female applicants in the 18 months since that historic change until now.

The candidates' identities and training progress are confidential to protect their personal security and "career viability as future special operator," Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command, told CNN.

Eight SEAL and seven SWCC classes -- all entirely male -- have graduated since March 2016, according to a Naval Special Warfare Center briefing last month for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

The SWCC candidate will undergo months of Navy training and screening evaluations, Walton said. The SEAL hopeful will be evaluated for three weeks at a SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection process in California as a prerequisite to SEAL training before moving on to a SEAL Officer Selection Panel in September.

Aspiring SEALs and SWCC candidates also go through rigorous Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S. The training comes in physically and mentally challenging stages, beginning with two months of intense physical training in Illinois. Candidates must pass a physical screening test at the end of the first stage or face being kicked out.

The next stages include basic conditioning, combat diving and land warfare training. One week during basic conditioning is known as Hell Week -- "the ultimate test of a man's will," according to the SEALs website.

The training is "designed to weed out the weak," as the Navy special operations training website warns. It's an accurate description, considering most candidates don't make it: Seventy-three percent of aspiring SEALs and 63% of SWCC candidates fail to make the cut, according to the Naval Special Warfare Center briefing in June.

There are about 1,000 SEAL candidates who start training every year, Walton said. Usually only about 200 to 250 candidates make it all the way through training.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/21/us/fir...rnd/index.html

Good luck to her and all my best wishes to her for her courage and resolve to complete this arduous endeavor!!!!!

OOORAHHH!!!!!

~Theo~

[theoddz]

I couldn't be prouder to be a Marine.......

"The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand." -- Richard Harding Davis, American journalist, in a cablegram announcing the Marines' 1935 landing in Panama.

Retired Marine General, John Kelly, now President Trump's White House Chief of Staff, was instrumental in the firing of asshat Steve Brannon's dismissal as a senior executive advisor to Trump. General Kelly needs to now plant the sole of his boot on the asses of a few others in the WH.

~Theo~

[*Anya*]

US Marines get first female infantry officer

26 September 2017

A female US Marine has made history by becoming the first woman to complete the Corps' famously gruelling infantry officer training.

The lieutenant, who wants to keep her identity private, graduated in Quantico, Virginia, on Monday.

She will soon be assigned to lead a 40-strong platoon.

Marine Corps commandant Gen. Robert Neller tweeted a picture of the woman, saying he was "proud of this officer & her fellow leaders".

There are almost 1.4 million active duty troops in the US armed forces, and about 15% are female.

In March 2016, then-President Barack Obama opened all military positions to women, including combat units.

The 13-week officer training course started in July with 131 Marines, and 88 ultimately graduated.

The Corps says it educates would-be officers in "the leadership, infantry skills, and character required to serve as infantry platoon commanders".

Traditionally around a quarter of all applicants miss the mark, 10% of them on the first day.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, former Marine captain Teresa Fazio said the female officer would be a major asset in Afghanistan.

"Female troops are invaluable for searching houses and communicating with local women, gaining access to spaces and information that, because of local custom, male troops cannot get," she wrote.

The Marine Corps tweeted a video showing the female officer engaged in exercises in the mountains alongside her male counterparts.

She will now be sent to the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, for her first assignment.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41394646

[Greco]

Wishing all fellow Veterans on bfp a good day, today, tomorrow, and always.
I now that sounds weird, but have been thinking of all my friends, some
alive, more not, and how proud I feel to have served with them all.

Sgt. P...still wear the St. Christopher's medal, thank you for everything!
RIP



Greco

[girl_dee]

Thank you for your service! I appreciate your sacrifice!

[Greco]

dee, I thought long and hard about what I'm about to say.
Yes, I served and proudly, but, no ma'am I made no sacrifice.

I've had my 20's, 30's,40's, 50's, and now my 60's, but
generations of young men and women did not get the
chance to have these years, they sacrificed.
My best buds are heavy on my mind this afternoon.

dee, don't take this personally, I know you meant no
harm. I certainly do appreciate your sentiments.

Greco

Originally Posted by girl_dee

Thank you for your service! I appreciate your sacrifice!