SAN DIEGO (AP) – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has squared off against Marine Corps leaders who resisted recruiting women for all combat jobs. On Tuesday, he takes his case to a broader audience at Camp Pendleton, California.
Marine Corps leaders had sought to keep certain infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing studies showing combined-gender units are not as effective as male-only units. Defense Secretary Ash Carter overruled them in December, ordering all positions open to women.
Since then, the military services have put together plans outlining how they will integrate women into male-only units
Mabus, who sided with the defense secretary against Marine Corps brass, will address about 300 leaders from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to “discuss his intent and expectations for gender integration,” according to a Marines press release that describes the forum as a town hall setting. He has already visited Marines bases at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Quantico, Virginia, to tackle the topic.
Mabus, a former Democratic governor of Mississippi, faces a potentially skeptical audience. Marine Gen. Robert Neller made clear his reservations in February even as the Marine Corps began to lay out recruitment plans.