The Crucible: The First Female Marines to Earn Their Eagle, Globe, and Anchor in San Diego

This is part three of Coffee or Die’s coverage of Platoon 3241, Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion — the women who made history in the first gender-integrated company to be trained at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

In this final installment, the men and women of Lethal Lima endure the Crucible — a grueling 54-hour field training exercise and the defining moment in Marine recruit training — and become the first West Coast-trained recruits to celebrate the life-defining moment of earning the title “Marines” as brothers and sisters. We also meet Pfc. Emily Zamudio, one of the first women to enlist in the infantry and be trained at MCRD San Diego, and get candid assessments from Marine leaders on how the first integrated training cycle went and how the recruits performed relative to nonintegrated companies.