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This post originally appeared on the Sandboxx blog as History of Women in the Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps has a long and proud history that every recruit will learn about when they begin their journey to becoming a United States Marine. With the founding of the Marine Corps in 1776 it wasn’t until 1918 that women became a part of that history. Since … Continue reading History of Wo
Thanks to 2ndLt A for sharing her insight into OCS as a female Marine Candidate and the challenges you will face there. Regardless of gender, OCS is about mindset. Female Marine candidates, your mentality will be the reason you succeed or fail at OCS. You better be prepared to be a servant. As a female Marine candidate or any candidate, if you aren’t there for … Continue reading Straight Talk from
Thanks to Lt. W for her insight into OCS as a female Judge Advocate candidate. Candidates, learn as much as you can before you go to OCS! OCS is a life changing challenge. It is hard for everyone! However, there are some challenges that are specific to female candidates. Hair is a lot more complicated at OCS! You won’t have a lot of time, and the … Continue reading Advice from a Female Marine Judg
Thank you to Norfolk Virginia’s Officer Selection Officer, Captain Calderon, for sharing her background and advice for future candidates. If you’re around the southern Virginia area, feel free to reach out to her recruiting unit with any questions about joining: 4th Marine Corps Recruiting District. What’s your background? I played Division I soccer all four years of college and graduated from the
Being a short and skinny candidate at Marine OCS So you have some concerns about being a short and skinny candidate at OCS? I was also a short and skinny candidate at OCS. Height: 5’ 6” and 120 lbs at my lightest point at OCS and the second shortest candidate in the platoon. Here is advice, tips, and straight talk to help you through OCS. … Continue reading The Little End: Lessons from a Short and
Thanks to Mustang Lt. S, formerly a SIGINT Sgt, for her insight into female hair and hygiene at OCS. Female candidates, practice before you go so you don’t lose precious sleep time at OCS. Hair and Hygiene Long Hair (Touches the bottom of your collar and longer) Here’s the honest to god truth: If you haven’t figured out how to put your hair up without … Continue reading Reality Check: Female Hair
I interviewed Marine Corps officer Capt Stoddard, who is the Officer Selection Officer (OSO) for OSS Saint Louis today. We covered the top questions received on the blog and in our facebook page. Feel free to connect with either of us in Sandboxx as well. Note: we shot an hour of supplemental footage, containing advice exclusively available to future Marine Officers in the Sandboxx app. … Continue
Female Candidate Question: I will be applying for the OCS class who will enter in June of this year. This is a silly concern- but I’m 5’0 tall-even. I know that everything will be exceptionally more challenging for me considering my size but watching Obstacle Course videos online makes me feel like it will be impossible for me to pass the O course in time … Continue reading Short Female Candidate
I challenge all candidates to achieve these minimum benchmarks before getting to OCS, and using them as training goals. This will put you in decent standing, but not the top of your class if these are your max sets. MALE Pullups: Max set 18 Pushups: Max set 65 Run: 21:00 3-mile Run: 880 meter sprint in 3:15 in boots (2:45 running shoes) Flutterkicks: Max set 60 … Continue reading One Easy Cheat Sh
Tactical Strength and Conditioning (TSAC) Conference The National Strength and Conditioning organization’s TSAC Program is an educational program designed specifically to optimize mission/job performance for tactical athletes and tactical facilitators. Dr. William Kraemer, PhD, CSCS,*D, FNSCA, and Tunde Szivak, MA, presented at the 2013 TSAC Conference on the integration of women into the world of
Candidates, this post is from a PLC candidate back in the day. He has an excellent leadership recommendation for you that would benefit your unit much if you could implement it at OCS. I went thru PLC when it was still in the boonies at Camp Upshur. One thing happened the first couple of days we were there that I think is still important today. … Continue reading Advice From an Old Candidate
Female Candidate’s Q: Hi! I’m getting ready to leave for OCS in about 7 weeks. I’m confident about my core and upper body strength, but my run time is not ideal. My max is about 25 minutes. I could use some advice. Should I be doing 3 miles 5 days a week, focusing on hills and sprints, or doing distance? Should I be using weight … Continue reading Female Candidate Q: Running and Lower Body Prepara
Her Question: Hello I am a college junior and am considering Marine PLC, however, I know that getting acceptance into OCS is extremely difficult for females. What are things that I can do to increase my chances in addition to physical fitness? What other factors would help my application? A: Get leadership on your resume. If you don’t have leadership experience, get some! Join some … Continue read
Pull-ups In, Flexed Arm Hang Out Finally the long-discussed changes to the female PFT were announced by the Commandant in a message to all Marines last November. Effective 1 January 2014, pull-ups will replace the Flexed Arm Hang (FAH). This change will take place in two phases with phase one beginning 1 January 2013. Phase one will serve as a transition period and is intended to … Continue readin
Candidate Question: I am seriously considering going through the Aviation path of a Marine Officer, but I have a few questions before I decide: How long will your contract be when being in an Aviation Position? Do you have to have a Pilots License or anything specific before joining? What tests do you have to take to get into an Aviation position? I’m female, will … Continue reading Candidate Q: F
If you’d like to be alerted whenever a new post specifically relating to Female candidates is published, you can read or subscribe via the links below: Subscribe in a reader Read all posts in the category Multiple subscription options Subscribe to OCS Blog » Females Subscribe via email Enter your email address to subscribe only to the Female-specific OCS posts:Delivered by FeedBurner Continu
Candidate Question: I am a female hoping to go to OCC this summer. I was hoping you might have some insight as to why so many more women get dropped than men? I have a competitive PFT score, but, presumably, so did all the women that got dropped from your OCC class. I have been trying to focus a lot on upper body strength since … Continue reading Candidate Q: Female drop rate?
Candidate Allison shares her advice, having completed OCS last year. I just graduated in the summer form OCS as a female. And I left with a fractured foot after graduation. Luckily I was PLC so it didn’t mess with my TBS date and I was thankful that I didn’t have to repeat OCS. The 12-mile hike was what caused a stress fracture. It was extremely … Continue reading Guest Post: Advice for USMC OCS F
The following is from a recently graduated Second Lieutenant. I asked her to share anything about challenges that surprised her at OCS. I hope her point of view will be valuable, both in seeing things from the female perspective and in having such fresh thoughts. My classes started out with 58 females and finished with 28, which is pretty good compared to some classes before … Continue reading Gue
“Help! How can I beat the tough odds at OCS for females? If you’ve wondered that, than your not alone. In my graduating class, less than 20% of females were remaining. Most of these went immediately to a delay at TBS due to injury. Scary figures, right? If you are intimidated or discouraged by these facts, STOP! The odds are tough but just let that … Continue reading Top Fears for Females–Conquere
The female candidates who read this blog will hopefully forgive me for my lack of knowledge concerning the female-specific aspects of OCS. What can I say? I’m a male. We didn’t even have a female platoon in our company. But one of the things I can straighten out is that all pull-ups in my PFT discussions now apply to males and females. Women now do … Continue reading Female Physical Fitness Test