thedrifter
02-08-08, 06:16 AM
Women Marines to gather Saturday
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Event celebrates 65th anniversary of Women's Reserves
CAMP PENDLETON ---- There weren't very many female Marines when Oceanside's Ellie Judge signed up in 1949.
There also weren't a lot by the time she left the Marine Corps in 1980, capping her career by serving as the first female sergeant major at Camp Pendleton.
On Saturday, about 200 current and former female Marines will gather at Camp Pendleton to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserves.
Among them will be a rare pair ---- Anna Hopkins of Carlsbad, who served in the Marines more than five decades ago, and her granddaughter, 22-year-old Lindsay Allison Hopkins, who recently enlisted and heads to boot camp in March.
Lindsay Hopkins will be one of the featured guests of the Edith Macias Vann Southern California Chapter of the Women Marines Association, a group which Judge co-chairs and is hosting the anniversary salute to female Marines.
"I'm just in awe of what women are doing in the Marine Corps today," Judge said this week. "We have women flying aircraft in Iraq ---- there are just so many different career paths available to them now."
When it comes to serving in combat, however, Judge supports current policy forbidding women from such assignments, even though today's female Marines do serve in infantry and artillery units as well as flying over combat zones.
"It's a hard question to answer," she said. "They are defending our country, but I'm not sure I want to see mothers in that role."
The Marine Corps now has more than 11,100 women serving throughout its ranks around the world, including combat zones in Iraq. That's 6.2 percent of the force compared with the 1 percent when Judge enlisted.
Despite being banned from combat assignments, 94 female service members have been killed in Iraq, including six Marines.
Whether women belong in combat remains a subject of debate in all the services and for some active-duty female Marines.
At Camp Pendleton, 2nd Lt. Jaymie Sicking said she believed women had proven themselves worthy of combat assignments.
"We are just as capable as men in serving our country and performing heroic actions," Sicking said this week. "If it was decided that women could serve in combat, I think that would be great."
At the Marine Corps' headquarters at the Pentagon, Capt. Blanca Binstock said the issue was not an easy one for her.
"Women are doing a lot of the hard work," said Binstock, the first in her family to serve in the armed forces. She said she pitched her decision to enlist to her mother partially on the basis that she would not be on the front lines during a conflict. "There's the whole equality thing, but then there is also the reality of the physical demands of combat."
Anna Hopkins comes down on the side against combat roles.
"I wouldn't have wanted to be on the front lines myself," she said. "I think it would be a distraction because of a man's instinct to protect women."
Carlsbad's Kathleen Ables joined the Marine Corps in 1967, retiring as a major 20 years later. Along the way, she served in variety of jobs, including a stint as a company commander at the Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms.
There were times when she encountered bias because she was a woman, overcoming it through superior performance of her duties, she said.
"I found out that things worked out for the best if I learned what my bosses wanted in terms of performance and giving it to them without trying to be their male equivalent," she said..
"You have to be yourself ---- I was still me as a woman ---- but the way you function in that environment is to not try to out-guy the guys," said Ables, one of the 120 members of the local Women Marines Association chapter.
Judge, 79, also served in a variety of jobs during her service years. She started out as a postal clerk and later became an administrative staffer. She spent time as a recruiter and as a drill instructor in the 1960s before eventually rising to sergeant major.
The Women Marines Association traces its roots to 1960 and today has more than 3,700 members in more than 80 chapters nationwide.
"It started out to capture the camaraderie we have and promote the welfare of women Marines," Judge said. "Today, we're also doing a lot things behind the scenes such as helping out wounded warriors and veterans in need of assistance."
Opha Mae Johnson became the first woman to serve in the Marine Corps in 1918 when she enlisted after the secretary of the Navy opened up the service to fill clerical roles during World War I. More than 300 women eventually signed up.
When World War I ended, so did the service of women in the Marines ---- until 1943, midway through World War II. Five years later, women became a permanent part of the Marine Corps.
In selling the notion of women in a force known for its lethality, the service coined the phrase "Free a Man to Fight."
Over the years, women became eligible for more and more jobs and by 1993 were allowed to join air units. The first female pilot got her wings in 1995.
Saturday's event at the South Mesa Staff Noncommissioned Officer's Club at Camp Pendleton includes an address by the recently retired Marine Col. Kevin Leahy of North County, whose service included stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a cake-cutting ceremony.
Anna Hopkins, who served from 1949 until she got married in 1952, when military policy then required her to leave the Marine Corps, turns 82 Saturday. But she won't get the honorary first slice of cake ---- that goes to granddaughter Lindsay, in recognition of her recent enlistment.
The younger Hopkins said it wasn't her grandmother's Marine Corps history that prompted her to join.
"I was considering the Navy until my friend got back from boot camp and was just on fire because she was so pumped about it ---- that's when I decided to join," she said.
For more information on the local Women Marines Association chapter, see the Web site http://members.tripod.com/womenmarines.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Event celebrates 65th anniversary of Women's Reserves
CAMP PENDLETON ---- There weren't very many female Marines when Oceanside's Ellie Judge signed up in 1949.
There also weren't a lot by the time she left the Marine Corps in 1980, capping her career by serving as the first female sergeant major at Camp Pendleton.
On Saturday, about 200 current and former female Marines will gather at Camp Pendleton to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserves.
Among them will be a rare pair ---- Anna Hopkins of Carlsbad, who served in the Marines more than five decades ago, and her granddaughter, 22-year-old Lindsay Allison Hopkins, who recently enlisted and heads to boot camp in March.
Lindsay Hopkins will be one of the featured guests of the Edith Macias Vann Southern California Chapter of the Women Marines Association, a group which Judge co-chairs and is hosting the anniversary salute to female Marines.
"I'm just in awe of what women are doing in the Marine Corps today," Judge said this week. "We have women flying aircraft in Iraq ---- there are just so many different career paths available to them now."
When it comes to serving in combat, however, Judge supports current policy forbidding women from such assignments, even though today's female Marines do serve in infantry and artillery units as well as flying over combat zones.
"It's a hard question to answer," she said. "They are defending our country, but I'm not sure I want to see mothers in that role."
The Marine Corps now has more than 11,100 women serving throughout its ranks around the world, including combat zones in Iraq. That's 6.2 percent of the force compared with the 1 percent when Judge enlisted.
Despite being banned from combat assignments, 94 female service members have been killed in Iraq, including six Marines.
Whether women belong in combat remains a subject of debate in all the services and for some active-duty female Marines.
At Camp Pendleton, 2nd Lt. Jaymie Sicking said she believed women had proven themselves worthy of combat assignments.
"We are just as capable as men in serving our country and performing heroic actions," Sicking said this week. "If it was decided that women could serve in combat, I think that would be great."
At the Marine Corps' headquarters at the Pentagon, Capt. Blanca Binstock said the issue was not an easy one for her.
"Women are doing a lot of the hard work," said Binstock, the first in her family to serve in the armed forces. She said she pitched her decision to enlist to her mother partially on the basis that she would not be on the front lines during a conflict. "There's the whole equality thing, but then there is also the reality of the physical demands of combat."
Anna Hopkins comes down on the side against combat roles.
"I wouldn't have wanted to be on the front lines myself," she said. "I think it would be a distraction because of a man's instinct to protect women."
Carlsbad's Kathleen Ables joined the Marine Corps in 1967, retiring as a major 20 years later. Along the way, she served in variety of jobs, including a stint as a company commander at the Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms.
There were times when she encountered bias because she was a woman, overcoming it through superior performance of her duties, she said.
"I found out that things worked out for the best if I learned what my bosses wanted in terms of performance and giving it to them without trying to be their male equivalent," she said..
"You have to be yourself ---- I was still me as a woman ---- but the way you function in that environment is to not try to out-guy the guys," said Ables, one of the 120 members of the local Women Marines Association chapter.
Judge, 79, also served in a variety of jobs during her service years. She started out as a postal clerk and later became an administrative staffer. She spent time as a recruiter and as a drill instructor in the 1960s before eventually rising to sergeant major.
The Women Marines Association traces its roots to 1960 and today has more than 3,700 members in more than 80 chapters nationwide.
"It started out to capture the camaraderie we have and promote the welfare of women Marines," Judge said. "Today, we're also doing a lot things behind the scenes such as helping out wounded warriors and veterans in need of assistance."
Opha Mae Johnson became the first woman to serve in the Marine Corps in 1918 when she enlisted after the secretary of the Navy opened up the service to fill clerical roles during World War I. More than 300 women eventually signed up.
When World War I ended, so did the service of women in the Marines ---- until 1943, midway through World War II. Five years later, women became a permanent part of the Marine Corps.
In selling the notion of women in a force known for its lethality, the service coined the phrase "Free a Man to Fight."
Over the years, women became eligible for more and more jobs and by 1993 were allowed to join air units. The first female pilot got her wings in 1995.
Saturday's event at the South Mesa Staff Noncommissioned Officer's Club at Camp Pendleton includes an address by the recently retired Marine Col. Kevin Leahy of North County, whose service included stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a cake-cutting ceremony.
Anna Hopkins, who served from 1949 until she got married in 1952, when military policy then required her to leave the Marine Corps, turns 82 Saturday. But she won't get the honorary first slice of cake ---- that goes to granddaughter Lindsay, in recognition of her recent enlistment.
The younger Hopkins said it wasn't her grandmother's Marine Corps history that prompted her to join.
"I was considering the Navy until my friend got back from boot camp and was just on fire because she was so pumped about it ---- that's when I decided to join," she said.
For more information on the local Women Marines Association chapter, see the Web site http://members.tripod.com/womenmarines.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie