Marines and special forces military credentials should soon open to women, provided the head of the US Navy insists on it.
As the deadline for a decision to allow women to take up combat professions has come, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has called for all vacancies to be opened for women in the military who can meet strict standards.
Officials from the Marine Corps are due to present their recommendations shortly, but Secretary of the Navy Rey Mabus, who also reports to the Marine Corps, explained that he must make a decision to open all military specialties to women and that he did not change his point of view here.
"This is my responsibility and I was quite open," Mabus said in an exclusive interview. "I see no reason for the postponement."
Mabus said that the branches of the military must keep the physical standards unchanged.
His call to open up all military credentials to women followed a statement by the chief of staff of the Navy, Admiral John Greenert, in late August that the Navy would not seek a respite for its legendary Navy SEALs.
All branches were to submit their requests for deferral to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter by October 1, but the Marine Corps did not send any signals as to whether they intend to do so. However, Mabus made it clear that, by and large, he made his choice.
“My understanding of how the process works is that I'm the only one asking the Department of Defense for an extension,” he said. "Now other opinions will be heard, the former Minister of Defense Leon Panetta has built this path, and if the Ministry of the Navy does not make a request for a postponement, then military registration specialties for women will be open."
While Mabus has yet to finalize his Marine Corps ranks, US Special Operations Command is to deliver its verdict on the US Marine Corps Special Operations Command (subordinate) and the Navy SEALs. If the Command of the Special Operations Forces does not request a delay, then the special forces of the Corps and the Navy will open on January 1, 2016 for women, along with other specialties that were previously closed to them.
Senior officers in the Marine Corps remained silent about whether they were pushing for a gender "revolution." At the hearing to confirm Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he did not clarify whether there was already a decision on the matter.
“We have considered this issue very carefully,” he told the Senate committee. - I expect that the data that we have meticulously collected over the past year and a half will reach my desk in August-September. And I do not intend to deviate from the schedule approved by Minister Leon Panetta and General Dempsey back in 2012."
General Dunford's spokesman said in late August that he is working to send his recommendations to Mabus within the next few weeks.
However, General Dunford had planned to make his recommendations regarding the participation of women in combat missions even before General Robert Kneller took over as Commander of the United States Marine Corps on September 24, 2015.
