The Marine Corps’ historic experiment to allow women to take part in its Infantry Officer Course ended with zero female graduates.
The last two female applicants hoping to make it through the course were cut during the Combat Endurance Test on April 2, along with nine of the 90 male Marines who applied for the program, Marine Corps Times reported Wednesday.
Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Maureen Krebs told Military.com that female applicants were not expected to meet the same physical fitness screening standards as men, but they were required to match male performance in the course.
The 13-week school historically averages a 25 percent attrition rate, Military.com reported Friday.
Since the experiment began about two years ago, 29 women have volunteered for IOC at Quantico, Capt. Krebs said, Military.com reported.
Data from the training experiment will be compiled and analyzed and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford will use the data to issue a recommendation to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on how the Corps intends to open up some combat jobs to women in 2016.
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However, female Marines have had a higher success rate at the Infantry Training Battalion course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where 122 of the 358 women who entered the course graduated. Data from Camp Lejeune will be included in the report on the gender-integration experiment.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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