CAMP GEIGER (AP) — Three female Marines are the first women to graduate from the Corps’ tough enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina.
Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey says the three completed the rigorous 59-day course at Camp Geiger near Camp LeJeune and are participating in a Thursday ceremony.
Carey says the women met the same test standards as the men in the class. The course includes a grueling 12-mile march with an 80-pound pack as well as a variety of combat fitness tests.
Camp Geiger is located on the Marine Corps Air Station New River and it is the home of the School of Infantry for the Marine Corps’s Eastern Region.
The course follows basic training at Parris Island, S.C., and trains about 20,000 Marines every year.