Quantico, Virginia, July 2013
I haven't been to Quantico since September 1997 when I graduated Small Systems Computer School. It felt like home! It was absolutely bone weary exhausting but it was so very worth it to be at the Molly Marine Monument Dedication with Generals Salinas, Mutter, and Reals, and of course, the ever motivating Dr. Brown!
I was a Molly Marine back in April 1997 after my platoon - Platoon 4010, November Company, 4th Battalion - voted me as their Molly. I wish I could have recorded General Salinas' description of becoming Molly of her platoon - it was so spot on, this description of the brusque way we Mollies are awarded this honor! At the time we don't have a real clue - until we see things like
this letter my parents received. (It is toward the middle... You won't miss it.)
Being a Molly is a pretty big deal - a max of 52 women are awarded this each year. That's only if all the female platoon dates fall just right and a platoon forms every two weeks like clockwork without being interrupted by specific holidays in which no platoons form. To put this in perspective for every 2 female platoons around 24 much larger male platoons graduate. We females tend to have 40-45 per platoon graduate while male platoons have upwards of 60-80 graduate. So while about 2% of females are awarded this honor that makes us about .001% of the entire Corps!
I am so thankful that my wonderfully good friend, Rock-L, could accompany me on this trip! Not only did we attend a lovely 4th of July Neighborhood Bash at my godbrother's, watch 7 fireworks shows!, tour the Museum of the Marine Corps and Semper Fidelis park, but we visited all over Washington, D.C.!! When we got back to my godbrother's the last night we were there, we literally crawled into the tub and crawled out of the tub. Our feet and legs hurt so bad that we couldn't stand. In fact we went to bed without eating because our lower extremities won the "I hurt worse war" with our stomachs!!
This is Molly Marine!
Major General Angela Salinas - at that moment the highest ranking female officer in the Marine Corps prior to her retirement.
Lt. General Mutter - the first female to attain the rank of Lt Gen (3 stars)not only in the Marine Corps but in all of the Armed Forces. She was also the first female to command a Fleet Marine Force at flag level - 3d Force Service Support Group in Okinawa, Japan - and the first woman to attain the rank of Major General.
Bg. General Reals, the first female to attain the rank of General via the selection board in the Marine Corps. The late Bg. General Brewer was the very first female to attain the rank of General in the Marine Corps by promotion.
As I just discovered when looking up Lt Gen Mutter's command, my platoon is in Wikipedia as the first females to attend Marine Combat Training. What isn't mentioned is that we were the first (and according to several sources, only) platoon of women to hump (carry) all the weight the males did. Oohrah! How honored I feel to be among those great women listed on that great list of firsts for the Marine Corps ... so humbling.
Here is a photo of The Museum of the Marine Corps from across the parking lot. See the hill gently sloping down toward the US Flag? Molly stands right at the bottom of that hill, essentially greeting and bidding farewell all who visit the museum.
There are more beautiful pictures of the whole place but they will have to wait as only a portion are uploaded. I promise that I'm working on it all!
But until then let me leave you with the only place I visit each and every, single time I am in D.C. - The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall where I visit my dad's best friend, Sammy James. The rubbing of his name is from the very first time I visited in 1997. The photo of me in blue was taken by Rock-L.
Feel free to visit my dad's page .... Just click
here
