A female Marine officer fired because she was too abusive to women recruits has people talking. Lt. Col. Kate Germano was dismissed in June after an investigation discovered that as the commanding officer of the 4th Recruit Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, she was hostile, and mistreated and bullied the women she was supposed to train. However, the Marine officer’s supporters claimed that she was effective at her post, and if a man was doing the same thing, he would have been promoted, not fired.
A female Marine officer fired for being too tough has brought back the debate about gender equality in the Marines to the forefront. On June 30, Lt. Col. Kate Germano, the former commanding officer of the 4th Recruit Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, was fired from her post.
The news was very surprising to many because the Marine officer was excellent at getting results. Using her own unique method, Germano was able to improve range qualification rates for female recruits.
When Germano took command of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the failure rate of female recruits at the rifle range was about three times higher than that of their male counterparts and none of her predecessors tried to change that. Lt. Col. Kate Germano said:
“The thinking was, girls can’t shoot, so why bother.”
Her rough and tough style led to some drastic changes, last month, 95 percent of women passed initial rifle qualification, equaling the rate for men. Germano made significant improvements in strength tests and retention, but was unable to keep the same high standard with the written tests, and they went down.
Not everyone was pleased with the actions she took to obtain these impressive results, which led to several complaints and eventually an investigation via the Freedom of Information Act. One female recruit told Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, commander of Parris Island, that Germano displayed “toxic leadership” and bullied them whenever they failed a test.
Another person claimed that during a sexual assault prevention brief, she more or less told her recruits that female Marines, who report sexual assaults, are weak and will not get promoted. Another female recruit testified saying that the marine officer had no respect for the trainees and took pride in embarrassing them.
Kate Germano is fighting back in the following statement:
“Despite considerable active and passive resistance throughout all echelons of the Recruit Depot and the Marine Corps, we each worked incredibly hard to improve the performance of our recruits to make them stronger, faster, smarter, and better shots — all to better the institution. We achieved unprecedented and historic results in just a short period of time, and regardless of the controversy h3cause by our goal to improve the caliber of our graduates, I ask that you remain steadfast and committed to this objective.”
A majority pf people agree with Germano, saying that in order to survive in a war, strong men and women are needed – if a woman can not handle the training, she is not made for the military.
What are your thoughts on the female marine officer fired for being too tough?
