Female Marines Face Problems of Deployment
Women Marines here are scrambling to find a place for their children, get inoculations, sign wills, figure out how to handle bills and what to do with their cars--all in preparation for possible deployment to the Persian Gulf area.
“Women serving in roles that are going to be needed are preparing to go,” said Capt. Rose-Ann Sgrignoli, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps base. “If her job is essential to the mission, she will be there.”
That has meant special hardships for some Marines. One Camp Pendleton-based Marine took her two mentally handicapped toddlers to Florida to stay with a sister in case she has to ship out. Another made arrangements with an Oceanside day-care center to have her husband pick up their children. And, as U.S. military muscle gathers in the Middle East, women in support units such as the First Force Service Support Group here are scurrying to get ready for possible deployment.
Still, they say, they will be ready should the time come.
“My father didn’t think I had it in me to complete Marine Corps training,” said Cpl. Dawn Anderson, 24, “but I did it. And, if my country needs me, I am ready.”
Women throughout the military face the same dilemma: They carry weapons but they are not suppose to become involved in the fighting--though they are allowed to defend themselves. Prohibited by law from actually fighting, women can work in a variety of non-combat roles such as technical, mechanical and medical. During the invasion of Panama, however, American military women were reportedly fired upon and returned fire.
About 10% of the Marine Corps nationwide--and at Camp Pendleton--is female. The Marine Corps refuses to disclose how many women among 36,000 Marines stationed at the North San Diego County base are destined for duty in the Middle East.
The Navy now has 140 female sailors serving aboard support vessels in the North Arabian Sea. Of those, 34 are aboard the West Coast-based ammunition ship Flint, the Navy said. The Army, although unwilling to give actual numbers, confirms that it has sent women to the Mideast. And about 12% of the Air Force now deployed in the Middle East “is, in all probability, female,” said Maj. Lou Figueroa, an Air Force spokesman in Washington.
“Normally, women make up almost 14% of the Air Force, and we have not made any exceptions over there,” Figueroa said. “They do the same things they would normally do with their units.”
At Camp Pendleton, the tension is almost palpable. The public affairs office has added extra phone lines. To help busy parents, who are now putting in longer than usual shifts, two of the five on-base day-care facilities have lengthened their hours so that children are tended to until 8 p.m.
All Marines who are parents have already signed an agreement indicating that they have made provisions for their children, should they be deployed. In some cases, the other spouse or relatives are on stand-by to care for the children. But sometimes, a Marine will not have much time, and a fellow Marine will care for a colleague’s child until family members arrive.
“In the Marine Corps, we take care of our own,” Sgrignoli said.
At Camp Pendleton, these preparations are taking place at a furious pace. And today, both men and women are trying to prepare their personal world so they can be uprooted at any moment.
“It is not the intent of the Marine Corps to preclude women from participating in Operation Desert Shield (the military code name for the buildup in the Mideast),” Sgrignoli said. “In keeping with Marine Corps policy and operational concepts, the initial scheduled assault waves will not include women. However, as Marine Corps service support (personnel) are established and functioning ashore, women will serve alongside their male counterparts.”
The strain of parents’ preparations and deployments has begun to trickle down to the children of Marines, day-care center operators in Oceanside say.
“How do you explain to an 18-month-old? They don’t understand,” said Dorothy Baker, director of the Ivey Ranch Day Care Center. “One day, they have a parent; the next day the parent is gone.”
At Ivey Ranch, teachers are planning to have children tie yellow ribbons on the walkway outside the facility. Teachers there cared for the two mentally handicapped toddlers whose mother abruptly took them to Florida.
“Those little girls couldn’t understand. I just hope it ends soon,” Baker said. “The mother was just distraught.”
Women Marines, dubbed “WM’s,” who have endured the grueling 13-week boot camp, say they are prepared.
“I don’t have any apprehensions whatsoever,” one female 17-year veteran of the Marine Corps said. Her husband already has been deployed, she said, but she figures that her 15-year-old son can fend for himself if necessary. “When you’ve put in as much time as I have, you don’t hesitate when you have a call to arms.”
This woman, however, said she had, in fact, never been called to a combat area.
One female officer, based at Twentynine Palms, said she was looking over her apartment, figuring out which of her personal possessions she might manage to pack along to the Middle East. Marines will heft a duffel bag, wear a pack, and tote a carry-on bag, which can be filled with personal items.
Unlike others, she was more open about her anxiety.
“It’s fear of the unknown. I don’t think anyone goes to a situation like that facing a madman and says they are not going to be scared,” said the 24-year-old officer, who requested anonymity. “It’s just a natural fear--one that a man or a woman would feel.”