Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Women Becoming Marines: ‘I’ Will No Longer Be in Your Vocabulary

Women make up 8 percent of U.S. Marines. The military base at Parris Island, S.C., is where these women train.

They descended from unmarked white school buses, many of them disoriented from hourslong journeys across the country, into a barrage of screams.

“Pick your heads up!” yelled a drill instructor. “Scream, ‘Aye, Ma’am!’ No! Scream louder than that!”

The women had come from places like Louisville, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio, in street clothes and sneakers, which they would soon shed for military fatigues. For the next 11 weeks, they would speak only in the third person, calling themselves “this recruit” instead of “I” to absolve all individuality.

They are recruits to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. — the only place in the country where women become enlisted Marines.

[Read more: Separate is not equal in the Marine Corps]

Women have been training to become Marines for decades, but only since 2016 have they been able to serve in combat roles alongside men — a requirement, when it was announced by the Department of Defense, that the Marine Corps petitioned. (They cited a 2015 study they had conducted, in which they determined that female Marines could not perform physically demanding tasks at the same level as their male counterparts; the Pentagon rejected that request.)

Today, women make up 8 percent of the United States Marine force, the lowest percentage of any military branch. Their challenges have been well-documented.

[Read more: 40 Stories from Women About Life in the Military]

I followed a handful of these women as they went through basic training — rappelling from a tower, learning rope climbing, martial arts, and completing courses in military history and Marine Corps values (honor, courage, and commitment).

The following are snapshots from their journey.

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Recruits arriving at Parris Island are asked to place their feet on yellow footprints.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Their stay began with a phone call home — in which the women were ordered to yell the following script into the phone to their family or next of kin:

1. This is recruit (Last name)

2. I have arrived safely at Parris Island

3. Please do not send any food or bulky items to me in the mail

4. I will contact you in seven to nine days by letter with my new address

5. Thank you for your support, goodbye for now

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Recruits indicate they have completed their paperwork during intake.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

The women would not speak to their families again until the day before graduation. During their time on Parris Island, recruits are permitted one phone call in case of an emergency or an exceptional circumstance. They have no email access.

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The India Company, Parris Island’s only integrated battalion, during marksmanship practice. Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

In 2018, the United States Marine Corps celebrated its centennial of women being able to serve. But it wasn’t until 1949 that the Marines set up a battalion specifically tasked with training women, according to Lt. Col. Misty J. Posey, who commands the female recruits at Parris Island.

Today, platoons at Parris Island remain segregated by gender, though men and women partake in some activities together, such as classroom courses. The exception to this rule is the India Company, a recently integrated battalion. The Marine Corps has said the integration was for the purpose of “training efficiency” during a class cycle with fewer female recruits.

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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

All recruits at Parris Island are required to take an initial physical fitness test — and those who don’t meet the requirements are placed into a special training program.

The requirements are:

Men:

34 push-ups or 3 pull-ups

44 crunches

1.5-Mile Run in 13:30 or under

Women:

15 push-ups or 1 pull-up

44 crunches

1.5-Mile Run in 15:00 or under

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Staff Sgt. Hollie Mulville, 26, disciplines a recruit for slouching.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

At any given time on Parris Island there are approximately 750 to 1,000 women in various stages of recruit training, compared to roughly 2,850 men, according to the Marine Corps.

“We made a conscious decision to try and increase that number of young women, because in many instances it’s not what they’d naturally think about doing,” said Brig. Gen. James F. Glynn.

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Recruits during a martial arts classCredit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

The Marine Corps remains the only military service that still separates men and women during basic training.

Most of the women at Parris Island have women as their drill instructors. They live on a female floor in the barracks. Their training, said Colonel Posey, is identical to the men’s — though they are graded differently on the physical fitness test.

“When I say identical, males get haircuts that we don’t get … Females get a pregnancy test when they get here. That’s it,” Colonel Posey said. “ … We hike the same miles with the same weight in our pack, we have one physical training playbook, our chow halls serve the same food.”

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A recruit organizes canteens and sweatshirts for the rest of her team.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Recruits during a morning athletic drill.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

A typical day at Parris Island consists of a 4 a.m. wake-up, physical fitness, academic classes and group meals. Teamwork is central to everything the recruits do.

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Staff Sgt. Jasmine Rodgers gives a pep talk to female recruits.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Making final preparations and checking their packs.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

All of this is in preparation for “the Crucible” — a 54-hour marathon of physical and emotional endurance that will test what they have learned.

“The Crucible is actually seeing everything that has been taught to them come to life,” said Staff Sgt. Jasmine Rodgers, a 26-year-old drill instructor from Philadelphia. “It shows the best and the worst from them, and by the end of it, they are better for it.”

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Danielle Kallmes, 19, pauses at the edge of the woods during the first morning of the Crucible.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Angela D. Samson during the Crucible.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Their challenges during the Crucible include long hikes during the day and night, climbing ropes, deciphering how to get the very last person of a group over a plywood wall, and crawling through thick mud while pushing heavy boxes of ammunition under barbed wire as battle soundtracks are blasted into the course to simulate moving while under fire.

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Desiree White, 20, is carried by her comrades after being “wounded” during an exercise. Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Deyraliz Perez Gines, 25, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, is reprimanded by her drill instructor.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

One of the most grueling exercises is called “Noonan’s evacuation,” a mock casualty rescue based on a real battle and evacuation that took place in Vietnam. During that exercise, the recruits had to tend to and evacuate their wounded and dead while receiving simulated rounds and sniper fire.

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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

The recruits average four hours of sleep per night during the Crucible. They sleep in wooden huts.

“It’s a lot of teamwork, especially working with so many other females,” said Jasmine Dickson, 26, a recruit from Atlanta, who has a bachelor’s degree in opera music and also sings R&B. “Everybody has different personalities coming from different places, and working together.”

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Jasmine Dickson, 26, during the graduation ceremony.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
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Shaditxie Rosado, 18, during the ceremony in which recruits are told they have become U.S. Marines.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Eventually, on almost no sleep and with hungry stomachs, sore and exhausted limbs and blistered feet, the women receive their Eagle, Globe and Anchor insignia.

They are told they can begin using the word “I” again, as they are no longer recruits: They have officially become Marines.

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Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Lynsey Addario is an award-winning photographer who has documented conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, South Sudan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is the author of The New York Times best-seller “It’s What I Do” and recently published her first book of photography, “Of Love and War.”

A correction was made on 
March 28, 2019

An earlier version of the article referred incorrectly to the Parris Island recruit training facility. While it is the only site where women can become enlisted Marines, there are other training sites that offer paths for women to become officers in the Marine Corps.

How we handle corrections

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: Entering a Crucible, Emerging as Marines. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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