--- title: "Second Female Marine Finishes Infantry Officer Course" date: "2018-06-26" modified: "2018-06-26" authors: - name: "Jeff Schogol" job_title: "Senior Pentagon Reporter" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jeff-schogol/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/second-female-marine-finishes-infantry-officer-course/" categories: - "News" --- # Second Female Marine Finishes Infantry Officer Course ![]() Slowly but surely, more women are joining the Marine Corps' ground combat arms community, which had been exclusively male until a couple of years ago. - A female Marine lieutenant has just become the second woman ever to complete the Corps’ Infantry Officer Course, [according to Marine Corps Times](). The first female graduate completed the course in September 2017. - The Marine Corps is not releasing the name of the woman, who graduated from the grueling 13-week course on June 23. - Thirty other Marines, including two women, were unable to get through the IOC class, according to Capt. Joshua Pena, a spokesman for Training and Education Command. - Pena told Task & Purpose on Tuesday that the unnamed female graduate currently has the infantry officer’s military occupational specialty, but plans to become a ground intelligence officer, which can lead reconnaissance and sniper platoons. - Separately, a female lieutenant colonel has become the Marine Corps’ first female commander of a ground combat arms unit, Corps officials said. Lt. Col. Michelle Macander assumed command of the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, California, on June 22, Corps officials said. **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author Jeff Schogol is the senior Pentagon reporter for Task & Purpose. He reports on both the Defense Department as a whole as well as individual services, covering a variety of topics that include personnel, policy, military justice, deployments, and technology. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]() [Twitter]()