Private First Class Cristina Fuentes Montenegro, 25, left, shares a moment with Pfc. Julia Carroll, 18, during graduation ceremony held on Camp Geiger, Jacksonville, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Montenegro and Carroll were two of the three female Marines who became the first women to graduate from the Corps’ tough-as-nails enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina. The three completed the rigorous 59-day course and met the same test standards as the men, said Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey. (AP Photo/The Daily News, John Althouse)
Marines Women Grads
Private First Class Cristina Fuentes Montenegro,left, 25, and Pfc. Julia Carroll,right, 18, share a moment with Shirley John, president, Women Marines Assiciation, NC-1, Tarheel Chapter, Jacksonville following graduation ceremony held on Camp Geiger, Jacksonville, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Montenegro and Carroll were two of the three female Marines who became the first women to graduate from the Corps’ tough-as-nails enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina. The three completed the rigorous 59-day course and met the same test standards as the men, said Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey. (AP Photo/The Daily News, John Althouse)
Marines Women Grads
Private First Class Cristina Fuentes Montenegro, right, 25, shares a moment with a fellow Marine during graduation ceremony held on Camp Geiger, Jacksonville, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Montenegro was one of three female Marines who became the first women to graduate from the Corps’ tough-as-nails enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina. The three completed the rigorous 59-day course and met the same test standards as the men, said Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey. (AP Photo/The Daily News, John Althouse)
Cristina Fuentes Montenegro,Julia Carroll
In this image ptovided Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 by the U.S. Marine Corps, Pfc. Cristina Fuentes Montenegro, 25, left, of Coral Springs, Fla. one of the first three female Marine graduates from the School of Infantry-East’s Infantry Training Battalion, and Pfc. Julia Carroll, 18, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, one of the first three female Marine graduates from the School of Infantry-East’s Infantry Training Battalion course stand during the graduation of Delta Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry-East at Camp Geiger, N.C. Three female Marines, Fuentes, Montenegro and Pvt. 1st Class Katie Gorz, 19, of St. Paul, Minn., not pictured, have become the first women to graduate from the Corps’ tough-as-nails enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina, officials said Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Earlier this year, the Pentagon lifted the ban on women serving in combat jobs. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corp., Lance Cpl. Justin A. Rodriguez)
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CAMP GEIGER, N.C. (AP) — Three Marines have become the first women ever to graduate from the Corps’ tough enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina.
Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey says the three completed the rigorous 59-day course at Camp Geiger near Camp LeJeune and participated in a Thursday ceremony.
Carey says the women met the same test standards as the men in the class. The course includes a grueling 12-mile march with an 80-pound pack as well as a variety of combat fitness tests.
Carey identified the women as 18-year-old Pvt. 1st Class Julia Carroll, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; 25-year-old Pvt. 1st Class Cristina Fuentes Monternegro, of Coral Springs, Fla., and 19-year-old Pvt. 1st Class Katie Gorz, of St. Paul, Minn.
