Fight Like a Girl by Kate Germano Kelly Kennedy

Author:Kate Germano,Kelly Kennedy [Kate Germano with Kelly Kennedy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633884144
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC (Publisher Services)

I had three recruit training companies in my battalion, and Oscar Company went gangbusters with the new training goals. They blew off the roof with their numbers. They bought into the program, had good leaders in key positions, and understood what it would mean for all Marine Corps women if our female recruits were to excel in boot camp.

After Colonel Haas finally allowed me to fire the old company commander in January, November Company also started making progress under the leadership of the new company commander, although we still had some abuse issues to sort out. Some of the old commander's DIs were not happy about her relief, so I was waiting it out until, one by one, they transferred to a new duty station and we could change the culture in that company. I hand-selected the new company commander—a strong and engaged leader—and I knew her enthusiasm and positive mental attitude would be good for her Marines.

Overall, I felt like things were going pretty well.

However, Papa Company had a first sergeant who compensated for being a female Marine by being super-aggressive and tough as nails. Earlier in my career, I had also fallen prey to the idea that I needed to compensate for a lack of testosterone by being harder and tougher than my peers. Fortunately, after my recruiting-command tour, I realized I needed to focus on being comfortable in my own skin. Unfortunately, Papa Company's first sergeant had never matured to that point. As I said, she controlled her CO and made it clear to the enlisted Marines that the company commander wasn't really in charge.

You would think that the company commander would have been embarrassed by her lack of authority, but she cared more about being liked. She planned to marry a company commander from one of the male battalions, and she spent more time planning her wedding than supervising her Marines. During intramural soccer season, she regularly rushed off early to make it in time to practices and games.

Apparently, the soccer team needed her more than her Marines did.

So her first sergeant took over for her, running Papa Company.

I started working with them both to hold them accountable for improving the climate within their company. Because the first sergeant was so harsh, recruits didn't benefit from some of the new battalion changes. She showed no empathy. If a recruit said she was sick, the interaction with her first sergeant would leave her believing she was weak. If a recruit said she was sore from PT, she got no stretching tips. She instead learned that she was weak. If a recruit struggled learning to zero her rifle…You guessed it: Weak.

The same went for Papa Company's DIs.

It was so bad that one of their Marines was admitted to a psychiatric ward. She said that she was so distraught about how she was treated within her company that she wanted to drink herself to death.

Members of Papa Company also struggled to make progress with their numbers.

Still, I didn't think their company commander was failing.

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