With the news hot off the press that the first woman has passed the Potential Royal Marines’ Course, the four-day initial selection process for potential recruits, the reality of women serving in front-line combat units is now fast becoming a reality rather than an aspiration.
The introductory image shows that of Surgeon Lt Lara Herbert on her 30 miler, the last of the Commando tests that she passed as part of the All Arms Commando Course, the AACC. Lara received far less attention for her achievements than that of Captain Pip Tattersall, the darling ‘G I Jane’ of the press and media. Which is a shame, because in contrast to Tattersall’s dubious success after several attempts, Herbert powered through the tests and succeeded on her first attempt.
But, this was the AACC, formerly 8 weeks but now extended to 13 and open to service personnel from all three branches who wish to earn the Commando qualification that will allow them to serve with the Royal Marines on operations. The young woman who recently passed the PRMC will now go on to attempt Royal Marines’ training; 32 weeks in duration.
From the off, soundbites and confident statements from MoD spokespersons declared that there would be no difference in treatment or standards for female recruits. Cynics are already pointing out that the MoD have reneged on this statement by removing the minimum height and weight criteria for women, while retaining it for men. They also point out that, where on week one day one the men form an orderly queue at the barbers to have their hair shorn, the females will not have to undergo this loss of personal identity. They will not shower with the men but will live in the same accommodation to avoid having the female recruits being isolated from the remainder of the troop.
While a lot of old and bold may disagree, I don’t believe that Royal Marines’ Recruit Training has physically changed all that much from when I went through it in the late 1980s. I entered the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, CTCRM, at Lympstone, Devon as a pretty scrawny specimen. And I found training hard. Very hard. Commando training, by design and necessity must be hard in order to provide the foundation that these Marines will need to prepare them for front-line operations. For me however, much of my suffering was the result of the attrition on my skinny little frame from 32 weeks of physical exertion, lack of sleep, poor diet, heavy weight carrying, and constant activity. By the time the Commando tests had come around, my webbing burns had progressed to open sores, weeping pus as the wounds became infected, my run-down immune system failing in its role. But I did what every other recruit did; padded and taped the wounds up, put the webbing back on and cracked on, passing out of training and recovering at my first Unit where better diet and more rest got me back to normal.
So, when I think about women joining the Royal Marines as opposed to the AACC, I don’t automatically think of them being unable to pass physical tests or carry a bergan on exercise, I think about the degrading of the body throughout that 32 week process and the impact on health and fitness. Typically, a male has a larger frame and more muscle bulk than a female with which to offset such long-term attrition, mitigating the negative impact on the body somewhat better than their female counterparts.
I also think about cohesion. The Royal Marines training that I underwent was free from bullying or unnecessary screaming and hysterics. This was because my Training Team told us what was expected of us and that it was our job to meet that standard, that when it wasn’t met we would be punished harshly for it. To that end my troop, (and I’m assuming all other troops at CTCRM) conducted a lot of self-policing; getting a grip of the serial offenders responsible for the group punishments inflicted upon us. Mostly, this was a case of investing a bit of assistance to an individual who wasn’t quite at the required level and helping them get there. On other occasions however, harsh words and strong verbal confrontations were necessary. It is one thing to deal with being on the end of one of these confrontations as a male member of the troop, quite another when you are the only female and probably already feeling some exclusion or isolation. It also throws up the issue of sensitivities, i.e., what man is going to feel comfortable giving a woman the same level of confrontation as he would another male member of the troop?
A good example of this hit our screens on the channel 4 series SAS: Who Dares Wins where, for the first time, female candidates were allowed to attempt the 2 week event. One of the women, when given the opportunity to select a partner for the milling, chose a man as her opponent. The man was warned by the instructors that he was not to go easy on the woman but to fight her as an equal. And he did. The woman took a fair old pounding from her opponent but stood her ground. Most people probably thought this was a good effort and, for the woman, it was. Her opponent however, was devastated at having punched hell out of a female and struggled to come to terms with his actions. So, arguably nothing to do with the woman, but down to males being unable to set aside generational gender behaviours.
Predictably, opinion is divided on the practicalities and effectiveness of gender inclusion in combat-focussed units with some claiming 21st century values catching up with 19th century policy, while others take the stance of social experimentation at the cost of military effectiveness. I wrote more on this subject in a previous article, Women on the Front Line, where I covered examples of females in combat: https://www.jamesemack.com/women-on-the-front-line/
So, to my knowledge at least, we now have the first female to attempt the full Royal Marines’ Commando training course. Being the first of your kind at anything ensures massive media interest and I have no doubt that this woman will be no exception to the rule. Hopefully, like all other recruits, she’ll be far too busy to acknowledge or even care about this. So, I for one, hope she does well, grits her teeth and gets through her 32 weeks of pain and exhaustion to earn her Commando Green Beret: Providing that the standards, criteria, and treatment remain identical to that of her male colleagues.
And that, at the end of the day, women in the Royal Marines is proven to be an enhancement to the capability rather than a mere experiment in gender inclusion that benefits none.
