IEDs: improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs
Infantry Officer's Course: rather than boot camp, officers go to Infantry Officer's Course
IST: initial strength test
liberty: off duty and away from the base
“making” a Marine: the process a person goes through to transform from a civilian to a recruit to a fully trained, physically fit, confident Marine
Marine Combat Training (MCT): The training all Marines attend after boot camp (if they aren't in ground-combat fields), to learn more combat skills before going to their job-training schools. Other services don't have this training.
marksman: lowest passing level one can attain on the rifle range
Mean Girl/Queen Bee syndrome: Mean Girl or Queen Bee syndrome is when a woman in charge treats women who work for her worse than she treats men
military occupational specialties: jobs
Mr. Fitzwizzle: the best cat ever
Navy corpsman: medic
Navy Cross: second-highest decoration granted in the United States for valor
NCO: Non-commissioned officer, an enlisted leader
nonjudicial punishment: a process that allows commanders to punish offenders by lowering their paychecks, giving them extra duty, or reducing their rank without going through an actual court-martial
officer: commissioned officer
Officer Candidates School: an officer's training to become an officer
“on”: What Marines say when they're at a base: “I worked on Parris Island.” Recall, they think of everything in terms of ships on water.
Parris Island: base in South Carolina where Fourth Battalion is located
platoon: a military unit, typically commanded by a lieutenant, made up of about sixty people
pogue: anyone who's not infantry
poolee: what recruiters call people who have been recruited but have not yet shipped to boot camp
post exchange: military store
PT: physical training
Queen Bee syndrome: see Mean Girls/Queen Bee syndrome
R & R: rest and relaxation, or time off
recruit: someone who has joined the Marine Corps but hasn't yet completed boot camp
Recruit Training Order: written guidance laying out how recruits should be trained and treated
regiment: A military unit, typically commanded by a colonel and made up of about four thousand people. Within the regiment, there are typically about four battalions, each of which is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel and made up of about one thousand people.
relational aggression: when you try to negatively affect how other people see someone
request mast: the process by which Marines ask for help from someone above their commanding officers because they believe they are being treated unfairly
series: two platoons of recruits that train together
Service Alphas: dress uniforms
sharpshooter: the middle badge one can obtain on a rifle range
surge, the: General David Petraeus's move to flood Iraq with American troops as a show of force, but also to enact his counterinsurgency measures to build trust and hope among the local people
The Basic School (TBS): six-month-long course of instruction all commissioned officers in the Marine Corps must successfully complete before being assigned their military occupational specialties
Uniform Code of Military Justice: the legal code for the military
Structure of Parris Island
Rank Structure
Enlisted:
E-1 Private
E-2 Private First Class
E-3 Lance Corporal
E-4 Corporal
Non-Commissioned Officers (including the higher-ranking enlisted—drill instructors are NCOs):
E-5 Sergeant
E-6 Staff Sergeant
E-7 Gunnery Sergeant
E-8 Master Sergeant (First Sergeant)
E-9 Master Gunnery Sergeant (Sergeant Major)
Commissioned Officers (including platoon leaders, company commanders, me, my boss):
O-1 Second Lieutenant
O-2 First Lieutenant
O-3 Captain
O-4 Major
O-5 Lieutenant Colonel (my rank)
O-6 Colonel
O-7 Brigadier General
O-8 Major General
O-9 Lieutenant General
O-10 General
Note: Except when quoted from a document or email, all references to conversations are based upon my recollection and to the best of my knowledge are accurate and complete.
Chapter 2: The Firing Squad
1. Eyder Peralta, “Marine Corps Study: All-Male Combat Units Performed Better Than Mixed Units,” NPR, September 10, 2015, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/10/439190586/marine-corps-study-finds-all-male-combat-units-faster-than-mixed-units (accessed January 8, 2018); 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, quoted in “Marine Corps Force Integration Plan—Summary,” p. 1, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2394531-marine-corps-force-integration-plan-summary.html (accessed January 8, 2018).
2. Morris J. MacGregor, Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 2001), p. 336. Originally published 1981.
3. Ray Mabus, Morning Edition, NPR, November 4, 2015.
Chapter 4: Data Geek
1. “We Hear You, Ladies,” Outside, April 11, 2017, https://www.outsideonline.com/2169326/we-hear-you-ladies (accessed January 8, 2018).
2. Karen Rubin, “Research: Investing in Women-led Fortune 1000 Companies,” Quantopian, edited February 11, 2015, https://www.quantopian.com/posts/research-investing-in-women-led-fortune-1000-companies (accessed January 8, 2018).
Chapter 5: The Rest of the Story
1. Ann Dunwoody, A Higher Standard: Leadership Strategies from America's First Female Four-Star General (Boston: Da Capo, 2015), p. 86.
2. Ibid., p. 131.
3. Ibid., p. 132.
4. Carl Prine, “Most Veterans Groups Remain Silent on Marine Nude Pix Scandal,” San Diego Union-Tribune, March 10, 2017, http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/veterans/sd-me-marines-united-20170310-story.html (accessed January 8, 2018).
Chapter 8: Iron Ladies
1. Quoted in Steven Carlton-Ford and Morten G. Ender, eds., The Routledge Handbook of War and Society: Iraq and Afghanistan (London: Routledge, 2010).
2. Richard Cohen, “Victimizer and Victim,” op-ed, Washington Post, May 6, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501682.html (accessed January 8, 2018).
Chapter 14: Preaching Integration
1. For example: Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Jennie W. Wenger, Jennifer Kavanagh, Jonathan P. Wong, Gillian S. Oak, Thomas E. Trail, and Todd Nichols, “Implications of Integrating Women into the Marine Corps Infantry,” RAND Corporation, 2015, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1103.html (accessed January 9, 2018); Margaret C. Harrell and Laura L. Miller, “New Opportunities for Military Women Effects upon Readiness, Cohesion, and Morale,” RAND Corporation, 1997, http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA332893 (accessed January 9, 2018); Margaret C. Harrell, Megan K. Beckett, and Chiaying S. Chen, “The Status of Gender Integration in the Military: Analysis of Selected Occupations,” RAND Corporation, 2002, http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA407514 (accessed January 9, 2018).
2. “The Risk Rule,” New York Times, August 15, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/us/16womenbox.html (accessed January 9, 2018).
3. For example: Lynette Arnhart, Blair Crosswhite, Jennifer Jebo, Michael Jessee, Dominic Johnson, Sara Lechtenberg-Kasten, Peter Kerekanich, Amy McGrath, and Blair Williams, “Gender Integration Study,” US Army TRADOC Analysis Center, April 21, 2015, https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/wisr-studies/Army%20-%20Gender%20Integration%20Study3.pdf (accessed January 9, 2018); “Fact Sheet: Women in Service Review (WISR) Implementation,” https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/Fact_Sheet_WISR_FINAL.pdf (accessed January 9, 2018); Anne W. Chapman, Mixed-Gender Basic Training: The US Army Experience, 1973–2004 (Fort Monroe, VA: Government Printing Office, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, 2008).
4. For reference of studies at the time: Mickey R. Dansby, James B. Stewart, and Schuyler C. Webb, eds.,
