The failure of two Marine Corps officers to to pass the Jan. 8 first-day Combat Endurance Test of the infantry officer course brings the tally of female dropouts to 26.
One more group of female officers will have a shot at graduation before the Marine Corps completes its integration experiment in June. The next IOC program begins in April.
Military Times reported Friday that of the current IOC class, 15 men out of a class of 118 were forced to drop the course.
Opportunities for female enlisted Marines to cycle through Infantry Training Battalion for seven MOS-specific ground combat training programs will also end soon, the newspaper reported. Marine Corps statistics show that out of 240 volunteers, 106 were successful.
Marine Corps officials will look at all the results of the integration experiment in June and then offer their recommendations to the defense secretary by the end of 2015, Military Times reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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