An amazing thing happened yesterday. The United States Marine Corps decided the best man for the job was a woman.
Yesterday, Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas became the first woman to lead either of the Corps’ two boot camps.
She is now in charge of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, where 20,000 Marine recruits are trained annually and also in charge of all Marine Corp recruiting west of the Mississippi River. Her selection speaks volumes about the current focus of the Marine Corps.
The Corps is an organization that values combat leadership above all other traits. General Salinas has no combat experience. She, however, does have marketing skills and the signal being sent is that her selection was made to improve recruiting, not combat training. To put that another way, she is responsible for sourcing and teaching Marine Corps discipline and philosophy to 20,000 male recruits annually. Marine combat training will still be done by the Schools of Infantry at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune. She will have no responsibiliy for that.
This fine, talented Marine officer has a tough road ahead of her. I, for one will not wish her luck because I don’t think she’ll need it. She’s earned her stripes.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060805-9999-1n5salinas.html