Eighty-five female Marines already made it through an last fall at Camp LeJeune, N.C., which included drills such as attacking a mock enemy force, hidden in a pine forest. That course lasted eight weeks, and the men and women all completed the same training.
Now the Marines have a more ambitious plan that will take a new group of volunteers from the deserts to the beaches to the mountains during the next year.
More than 160 women will be taking part in a training exercise that will start this summer that will stretch well into next year. It will include simulated combat exercises in the Mojave Desert, Pacific Coast beaches and the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The Marines will march with 100-pound packs, mount an attack that will include tanks, then dig a defensive position. They’ll practice pulling a wounded Marine to safety. They’ll crawl over obstacles. Climb mountains and cliffs.
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