2nd lt. with jump wings and dive

[rheinmark187]

I saw her sitting down with 4 enlisted marines all of whom had their gold jump wings and one sergeant had his divers bubbles. I didn't get a chance to ask them what unit they were with, but I wondered. I'm thinking she might have been a mustang officer (and got both during reenlistment) or might have been part of air delivery platoon at one point. This was at K-bay, where the only units that would use them are 4th force recon and radio battalion. I'm not sure if she knew them from jump school, but they could have been part of the same unit.
Anyone care to guess what unit she was with?

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Hmmmm.....interesting. I've seen a few WM's with gold wings from Air Delivery, but NEVER one with a SCUBA bubble. THAT would be something to see. She might have been RadBn, but you got me stumped on that one. Seeing that would be rarer than a MOH winner.

Heck, I would have strolled up and ASKED her what unit she was with....that is pretty impressive stuff...made all the more so that if she was hangin with others wearin the same stuff..she obviously wasn't a poser.

[FISTFU68]

:evilgrin: SURE "IT"WASN'T A MUFF DIVER? :evilgrin: :sick:

[1stRad2671]

I'd go with RadBn. We get to do lots of cool stuff. :D

[rheinmark187]

does anyone in radio battalion require jump/dive besides radio recon?

[1stRad2671]

does anyone in radio battalion require jump/dive besides radio recon?

No. There are plenty of Marines that get jump school as a reenlistment incentive. The Corps REALLY wants to keep RadBn types around because of how much time and money is put into training.

[Sgt D]

If she was a Marine with a USMC dive bubble then she can't rate it. In order to get into the combatant dive corse you are required to have the following pre-reqs:

The specific course prerequisite qualifications include:
Individuals must be volunteers. (The Marine Corps Combatant Diver Course includes High-Risk training and Drop on Request (DOR) procedures are used.)
Marines and Corpsman must be graduates of the Basic Reconnaissance Course, (or DOD equivalent course).

https://www.npdc.navy.mil/ceneoddive/ndstc/default.cfm?fa=courses.custom&pg=usmc_diver#qual

Pasted from the schoolhouse web site. In order to go to BRC you have to be an 03XX or Corpsman. So it's physicaly imposible for her to have a marine scuba bubble, unless they changed the order for a few days, or she was a he. It could have however been a navy or army bubble.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Well, that certainly clears THAT up.

[1stRad2671]

There are two different dive schools and two different badges. Combat dive is a gold badge with a different SCUBA apparatus. Regular dive is silver.

[Sgt D]

There are two different dive schools and two different badges. Combat dive is a gold badge with a different SCUBA apparatus. Regular dive is silver.

Yes there are 2 different ones. One is Open Circut Combatant Diver Course (Silver Bubble) the other is Closed Circut Combatant Diver Course (Gold Bubble). My post earlier was regarding the entry level Open Circut Combatant Diver Course. Either way the requirements were the same.

[LilyCricket]

You can't imagine how cool it is, for me anyway, to read this thread. Except for that clearly unimaginative crap, of course. I never knew or knew of a WM with a scuba bubble and only saw one with wings... Makes me want to find a recruiter and reup...BUt that could be the unfortunate amount of coffee I drank last night because the recruiters would laugh at me..

[sirmess1]

yeah, I saw this a female 1st Lt with gold jump wings one time in a chow hall in Iraq. Never saw another like her again.

[LilyCricket]

I met the jump qual'ed female at 2d MarDiv while gearing up for a long field op directly after Desert Storm, and she was a Captain. In an interesting way, I was quite proud of her the day I met her and still am as proud today. Can't imagine getting into or through jump school as a token female was easy.

[rheinmark187]

well, women from all branches end up going to Jump School. The odds off her being the only one aren't as great as we might think. I said in my original post that she also had her silver dive bubbles, but I've been told that's not possible. It was about 2 years ago, so It's possible that my memory is distorted, but I could have sworn I saw both the jump wings and dive bubbles. I looked it up and she is possibly eligible if she had been a navy diver and a handful of other MOS's. The chances of all the stars being alligned and her getting those and becoming a Marine officer are pretty damn low. I'll just assume that my Memory is distorted.

[FISTFU68]

:evilgrin:DURING MY ERA,THE FORMAL U.S.ARMY AIRBORNE SCHOOL;AT THE U.S. ARMY SCHOOL OF INFANTRY.FORT BENNING GEORGIA WAS A BEAR,THERE WERE MEN;FROM ALL THE BRANCHES WHO COULDN'T HACK IT!!!THE PHYSICAL,AND MENTAL STANDARD'S;HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN BY TWO THIRD'S!NO WOMEN WERE ALLOWED,IT'S TURNED INTO A FACTORY OF PUMPING OUT LARD AZZES;THUS THE TERM USED BY GREEN-BERET'S!(REC*NT'S)FOR THE WOMEN OF THE U.S.M.C.,WHO ARE JUMP QUALIFIED;DON'T GO TOO BENNING ANY-WHO???IT'S YUMA,ARIZONA!!!:usmc: :confused:

[ggyoung]

Yuma, Az. home of HALO. The hardst school in the service. Some people wait for years to get in.

[yellowwing]

Yuma, Az. home of HALO. The hardst school in the service. Some people wait for years to get in.
I saw women soliders with jumps wings and some Rangers talking about training them, and I thought, "Geez, what a waste of trianing dollars!"

[Sgt Leprechaun]

I had several females in my Airborne school class back in 1984. They actually did better than some of their army counterparts.

[GyB74]

but the Lt in question was my AOIC for our MEU det. She was with 3rd Radio Battalion. She went to Navy Scuba school and jump school because she was a motivator and there were seats (no one else wanted to go). She's out now.

[jackson07]

Marines in Radio Recon can and do go to BRC and do not have to be a 03xx or a corpsman.

[rheinmark187]

but the Lt in question was my AOIC for our MEU det. She was with 3rd Radio Battalion. She went to Navy Scuba school and jump school because she was a motivator and there were seats (no one else wanted to go). She's out now.


I guess I wasn't out of my mind for posting that. I kind of find it hard to believe that NO ONE else was going to use the seat?? Why didn't they just give it up to another unit? I'm sure she made an outstanding case why she was 100% ready, willing and able to pass that course with flying colors. She must have been a pretty damn good officer, because the other Marines with her seemed to really value her time. Not like the situation where guys are like "who's this dumb chick trying to fool?"

[rheinmark187]

Yeah true, but you're not going to have a female officer as a radio recon platoon commander. So it doesn't matter what MOS she is. Anyway, question resolved. I guess this is another example of how small the Marine Corps is.

[Big Jim]

I once saluted the highest ranking WM in the Marine Corps, at the time in April of 1985, at the Marine Corps Movement Center on Camp Pendleton. She was a Brigadier General with silver jump wings! I forget her name without looking her up but we were all no rank Pvt.s and Pfc.s and were on permanent working parties awaiting shipment to far off lands.

The Sgt. in charge of us suddenly jumped to his feet and rendered the quickest and smartest salute I've STILL ever seen. It was amazing cause he was kind of a sh!tbird himself with cammies that looked like he slept in them and he was always reeking of booze and chain-smoking in uniform!! All of us non-rates, about 18 or 20 of us, dropped what we were doing and followed suit, we dropped what we were doing and we gave a hand salute.

She was an older lady, about 42- 43-ish, but very intimidating. The Sgt. did say, "Good morning, Ma'am." She returned his and our salute and said, "You gentlemen have a good day." The Sgt. told us that information about her and I never forgot it...the things that stick in your mind....

[GyB74]

She actually didn't take a seat from anyone for scuba school. At the time, the Navy Scuba school wasn't giving a limited amount of seats to the Marine Corps, it was an across the island PTAD that you merely had to request a seat for (so, its not like she took a MARFORPAC schoool seat from someone). As for the Marine Corps, the Marines that are going to be swimming up to an objective would be more likely to go to the Marine Combat Diver course, not the Navy's basic scuba school.