OBAMAchange: Will Diversity Weaken the Marines' Warrior Spirit?

Born inauspiciously in a Philadelphia tavern in 1775, the Marine Corps has grown into the country's preeminent 911 force, proving itself in battles from Tripoli to the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.

Along the way the Marines built a legend based on grit and raw courage. It's what propelled them across the beaches of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal and through Hue City's deadly streets in Vietnam.

U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Kate Germano, right, battalion 
commander, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit 
Training Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris 
Island, congratulates the new 4th battalion sergeant major 
U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Donna A. Dunbar July 18, 2014. 
(Photo: Lance Cpl. Allison Lotz, U.S. Marine Corps)

Is it now facing a new challenge as America's culture of inclusiveness seeps into the service and threatens to dilute the warrior ethos that has set it apart from the other services for more than 200 years?

Lt. Col. Kate Germano, who headed female recruit training at the Marine Corps' legendary Parris Island, hopes not.

She was fired from her post recently, triggering a debate over whether she was canned for holding her Marines to the same high standards expected of men. She remains in the Marine Corps but has been placed in another job.

Lt. Col. Kate Germano (Photo: DoD)

The debate has surfaced at a critical time. The Marines and the other services have been ordered to begin the process of including women in the infantry and other physically demanding jobs by the end of this year.

The Marine Corps said as a leader she had created a toxic environment, alienating her subordinates with her leadership style. She also persistently questioned the Marines' approach to training women, suggesting the corps was too willing to make allowances for females.

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