Posted on Apr 9, 2016
Louisiana woman becomes first female to enlist in the US Army Infantry
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Tammy Grace Barnett took an oath of enlistment on Thursday
The former cop almost joined the military police - but decided she wanted to serve her country on the front lines
She hopes to 'deploy, see action and definitely go to Airborne school'
The Department of Defense made all military occupations and positions open to women in January 2016
A 25-year-old Louisiana woman made history this week after becoming the first female to enlist in the US Army Infantry School.
Tammy Grace Barnett, a former police officer, took the oath of enlistment on Thursday at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Shreveport.
Barnett initially planned to join the military police, before deciding she wanted to serve her country on the front lines.
The former cop almost joined the military police - but decided she wanted to serve her country on the front lines
She hopes to 'deploy, see action and definitely go to Airborne school'
The Department of Defense made all military occupations and positions open to women in January 2016
A 25-year-old Louisiana woman made history this week after becoming the first female to enlist in the US Army Infantry School.
Tammy Grace Barnett, a former police officer, took the oath of enlistment on Thursday at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Shreveport.
Barnett initially planned to join the military police, before deciding she wanted to serve her country on the front lines.
Louisiana woman becomes first female to enlist in the US Army Infantry
Posted from dailymail.co.uk
Women in the Military
Infantry
Combat
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 10
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs I wonder what she will be, 11X means that her position has not yet been determined. 11X isn't an MOS, it's an enlistment option. The Army does not offer a "guaranteed job" for any specific infantry MOS. Instead, one must enlist as an "11X." The "X" means that the specific job is not known at the time of enlistment, an infantry enlistment option. To me this translates into there is a lot of hype going on without necessary documentation perhaps intent to back it up. It's not the same as having a 11B, 11C... designator attached to your contract. That said if she is a 11 series MOS the standards should be upheld as they are. She has 17 months before her training begins, I hope she does well.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
CPT (Join to see) Thanks for sharing that information - very interesting! Being a former police office I'm sure she is going to be working our and preparing for the adventure - its all about the standards for me - if she can meet and surpass them - then thumbs up for her!
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SGT Selina Lee-Rivero
COL Mikel J. Burroughs - I agree. When I first joined, as I recall, there were certian positions that i wanted but was told I couldn't do these because I was female. Once my MOS was was established, basic & AIT wasn't that bad for me. It was when I went to my unit that my woo's began. I started out as a 21C/Bridge crewmember. I was told to go to the kitchen where I belonged and make them sandwiches. I was constantly the blunt of pms and menstrual jokes. Didn't matter that I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, therefore didn't have pms or menstrual problems. We were deployed, and I had unwanted sexual advances. When I said no, I apparently was having an affair with someone with high rank, otherwise I would be fair game. I tried once to bring my problems to light. Then every one knew. They all blamed me. I was not to be trusted. I transfered to a new unit. At first I thought it was going to be the same. Then they got to know me. I proved myself worthy. I gained their respect. And in the end I knew that they would all die for me, as I would die for them. My career started out rough. But preserverance, patience, and hard work allowed me to find my place.
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1LT Peter Duston
25 years ago when I was assigned to a reserve infantry division, I remember a female captain being assigned one of our company commanders. The guys complained about having a female commander when I reminded them that this female captain march in 125 Iraqis with only her nine mill. How many enemy have you captured was my question to those guys. Ha ha! Although she was an MP branch officer, she was assigned to our infantry unit. And, when we did our West Point mission running most of cadet basic including BRM, We used our clerk and supply females to work with a female cadets who were having a hard time with the M-16. It worked so well That we were able to achieve a first time qualification rate for the new cadets that was way higher than what West Point expected of us. We looked great thanks to our females who had a big part of it doing infantry training.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs I was a cadet at West Point when the first women were admitted as cadets in 1976 and witnessed the changes to barracks, facilities, etc. to provide privacy for the women which were initially distributed to one fourth of the cadet companies to ensure than all women were paired up with other women in the company.
In 1985 and 1986 I served as a infantry training company commander at Fort Benning. Then in 1987 I served as Chief Test and Evaluation at the USITC at Fort Benning which supervised and conducted all final qualification testing of physical abilities and skills. From 1988 to 1989 I served as Chief of scheduling for the USAIT which coordinated soldiers coming to Fort Benning and all transportation, ranges, training instructors and equipment, etc. required to train them.
The training barracks now are battalion level barracks. In order for women to safely train at Fort being there will need to be modification to the barracks, bathrooms, etc. at the training barracks. Hopefully women will be paired off so that nobody will be alone.
In 1985 and 1986 I served as a infantry training company commander at Fort Benning. Then in 1987 I served as Chief Test and Evaluation at the USITC at Fort Benning which supervised and conducted all final qualification testing of physical abilities and skills. From 1988 to 1989 I served as Chief of scheduling for the USAIT which coordinated soldiers coming to Fort Benning and all transportation, ranges, training instructors and equipment, etc. required to train them.
The training barracks now are battalion level barracks. In order for women to safely train at Fort being there will need to be modification to the barracks, bathrooms, etc. at the training barracks. Hopefully women will be paired off so that nobody will be alone.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs - Mikel; Can you guess why I am not surprised that the "first female" is photogenic?
That being said, I wish her every success.
That being said, I wish her every success.
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