When Lt. Col. Kate Germano took command of the Marine Corps’ all-women boot camp, the failure rate of female recruits at the rifle range was about three times higher than that of their male counterparts, and she said there was no plan to try to improve it. “The thinking was girls can’t shoot, so why bother,” she said in an interview.
So she worked with trainers to give women better skills instruction, and soon passing rates soared, according to Marine Corps records. In June, 95 percent of women passed initial rifle qualification, equaling the rate for men. Colonel Germano made similar gains in strength tests and retention — though scores on written tests went down — and began advocating better training and resources for female recruits.
“Once we showed the recruits and the coaches and drill instructors it was possible, it filled them with so much confidence,” Colonel Germano said in the interview near her home last week. “They knew they were as good as every other recruit, and my hope was the Marines saw it, too.”
[For more of this story, written by Dave Phillips, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07...n-in-corps.html?_r=0]
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