SAN DIEGO
A massive fire dooms a warship in San Diego’s waterfront. Training accidents kill 11 in San Clemente Island. Some long deployments come to an end as others are just beginning.
These are a few of the stories affecting the San Diego military community in 2020.
Underpinning it all is the coronavirus pandemic, which sickened many and strained local military forces as they tried to maintain regular operations.
The pandemic tested military leaders and changed day-to-day operations. Sailors endured weeks-long quarantines before going to sea. and Marine recruits isolated in hotels before starting boot camp.
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Before the virus reached US shores, the year began with tensions escalating into violence between the United States and Iran, as both countries sought to exert influence in Iraq.
BEAUFORT â Since 1949, South Carolina s Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island has been the only place in the country where women would earn the title held by the few and the proud.Â
But, in a historic first announced this past week, 60 female recruits will begin training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in 2021. The California military base has traditionally only trained men born west of the Mississippi River, while Parris Island trained men and women.
âIn an effort to forge Marines of the highest quality, we must give them every opportunity to succeed,â Brig. Gen. Ryan P. Heritage, the commanding general for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, said in a news release. âThis is the first time we are able to give Marines who graduate from MCRD San Diego the same integrated experience that many of their peers at Parris Island have received already.â
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Tribune News Service) Sgt. Stephanie Fahl is shouldering great expectations. Eight years ago, the 33-year-old San Diego resident went through boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina. Her drill instructors inspired her then and she hopes now to carry that same motivation forward as she helps to forge the Corps newest Marines. On Wednesday, Dec. 16, Fahl and two other women, Sgt. Ikea Kaufman and Sgt. Stephanie Jordi, made Marine Corps history by becoming the first females to graduate from a gender-integrated drill instructor course at the 100-year-old Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.
Female Marine recruits to start training at San Diego in February
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U.S. Marines with Headquarters and Service Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego, stand in formation before a celebration run at MCRD San Diego, Calif., in November 2016. Photo by Robert G. Gavaldon/U.S. Marine Corps
Dec. 15 (UPI) Female recruits will begin training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in California starting next February, the branch announced. Beginning Feb. 12, 2021, an integrated company of male and female recruits is scheduled to begin their journey to become Marines at MCRD, after undergoing a two-week COVID-19 quarantine protocol, the Marine Corps said in a statement.
Women will attend boot camp at San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot for first time in history December 15, 2020 A drill instructor with Oscar Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, Platoon 4042, instructs her platoon on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., Sept. 6, 2019. (Lance Cpl. Shane T. Manson/Marine Corps) For the first time in Marine Corps history, women will be trained at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. The Corps’ West Coast recruit depot traditionally has trained enlisted men born west of the Mississippi River, but all women who enlist in the Corps have been shipped to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina.