When Lt. Col. Rhonda C. Martin was 19 years old, she unintentionally walked into a Marine recruiting office on her way to join the Peace Corps.
More than four decades later, she is the longest-serving active duty Marine, according to a service press release last week, and is set to celebrate her retirement at the end of the month.
She began her 42-year career as an administrative specialist, going on to serve as a drill instructor — though women were not allowed to don the iconic campaign cover at the time — before earning a commission as an officer in 1996.
She deployed multiple times, including in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and throughout her career, she both witnessed and took part in the Corps’ institutional changes, especially as it slowly allowed women into more roles within the service.
“To say that I came in and saw so much progress for Marines, and especially female Marines, over my time … it hits me really hard,” Martin said, according to the press release.
She reflected on her experiences and some of those changes, having been in the Corps since women were first permitted to qualify with the M16A2 on the recruit rifle range in 1985, all the way through to the Defense Department decision to lift its ban on women serving in direct combat roles more than twenty years later.
“It’ll be tough, but I’ve had 42 years of doing what I love, and I’m leaving at a time when the Marine Corps is stronger than ever,” she said.
Multiple Marines lauded her leadership, knowledge and professionalism, noting that in her administrative role within the unit she was critical in keeping morale high and keeping a level head when a Marine helicopter crashed in Nepal in 2015, killing the pilots, crew and two combat cameramen on board.
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“When she came to us, we had a source of positive energy,” Lt. Col. Cassandra Stanton, a Marine who served with Martin at the time, said in the release.
Martin serves as the assistant chief of staff for manpower in Quantico, Virginia, and is expected to be honored at a retirement ceremony next week, the release said. Her official mandatory retirement date is on Jan. 1, 2026.
Martin, who intends to obtain a doctorate degree in her post-Marine Corps life, asked that any money that might have been spent on her retirement gifts or flowers be donated to Marine Corps education foundations “so service members and their families have additional opportunities to pursue educational goals, advancing their careers and elevating their lives,” the release said.
