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In the joint Army and Marine course, the Corps' newest artillery
officers met operationally relevant, gender-neutral military
occupational specialty standards in order to graduate. This approach
matches qualified Marines with the most suitable occupations in an
effort to enhance the combat readiness of the force.
“The
officer's course here is difficult,” said Col. Wayne Harrison,
commanding officer, Marine Detachment Fort Sill. “It has a mix of
technical and physical requirements that challenges the students.”
One of the female officers who passed the course was 2nd Lt.
Virginia Brodie. She graduated number one of the 137 students in
both the gunnery portion of the course and in overall score and was
recognized as her class' distinguished honor graduate.
“I
really love this job and want to be a fire direction officer in a
fire direction center, so that makes it easy to put in the extra
time and effort,” Brodie said.
2nd Lt. Katherine Boy
graduated the 19-week course as well. She finished in the top five
percent of her class and was named one of the class' honor
graduates.
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Second Lt. Katherine Boy, right, leads a fire direction center at
the Field Artillery Basic Officers Leadership Course at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma, May 12, 2016. The fire direction center is responsible for
calculating and transmitting fire coordinates to the gun line. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by LCpl. Julien Rodarte)
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Their path to the operating forces was no different than their
classmates. Like all officers, they first had to earn a commission
from a four-year college, a military academy or an
enlisted-to-officer program, then attend The Basic School at Marine
Corps Base Quantico, Va. At TBS, officers receive six months of
training and education and are selected and assigned to an
MOS-producing school based on their performance, needs of the
service and personal preference.
When the Department of
Defense opened all jobs previously closed to women, Brodie and Boy
became eligible for selection to artillery school. With the support
of their leadership, they volunteered and were ultimately assigned
with others from their TBS class to train at Fort Sill.
Throughout the five-month course, officers learned everything they
need to know about fire support and gunnery to be an effective field
artillery leader.
“In fire support, they are the eyes and
the ears,” said Capt. Isaac Williams, an instructor at the course.
“They're the ones actually observing the round and making
corrections to make sure the round hits the target.”
Fire
support Marines send enemy locations to the fire direction center,
which uses what the students learn in the gunnery portion of the
course to deliver fire.
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Students at the Field Artillery Basic Officers Leadership Course
conduct firing drills at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, May 11, 2016. Marine
officers spend five months at the school learning how to lead their
Marines in the artillery field. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by LCpl. Julien Rodarte)
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“The gunnery side of this course is extremely difficult,”
said 2nd Lt. Marlin Adams, a student at the course. “There
is a lot of math and specific details into making sure we're
delivering timely, accurate and safe fire from our
howitzers.”
Instructors and leadership from the
artillery course said that even though these are the first
female Marine artillery officers completing the course,
nothing has changed.br>
“The Army
has [already] integrated females in this MOS for quite a
while, so nothing really has changed in the way that we
instruct the students,” said Williams. “We are not going to
raise or lower the standards. The standards have been set.
Marines need to keep above an 80 percent academically and
pass all of the physical tasks. If they can't meet this they
will not become an artillery officer.”
The course
will continue maintaining standards to produce the best
artillery officers possible.
Boy said she is
thankful she had the opportunity to be in the course and is
excited to see what artillery has for her future.
“I
think everyone brings their own mindset and way of thinking,
and the more variety of people that you can get in an MOS
who are excited to be there and willing to work hard, the
better its going to be to accomplish that MOS's mission,”
said Boy.
The Marines will participate in Marine
Artillery Officer Basic Course and receive instruction in
joint fires observation, target mensuration operations,
Marine logistics and a command post exercise before
officially receiving their 0802 MOS and reporting to their
first duty station.
See more images about this article
By U.S. Marine Corps LCpl. Julien Rodarte
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
The U.S. Marines
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