On June 15th, Parris Island conducted the ceremony which officially deactivated the 4th Recruit Training Battalion, thereby ending a tradition which had endured for nearly eighty years. Since 1949, all female Marines across the Corps completed Basic Training at Parris Island. These Marines were trained under a variety of different flags over the years, but the 4th Battalion, as of 1989, was the most recently designated all-female Recruit Training Battalion and as such held the tradition of every other past female training unit.
The casing of the 4th Battalion’s colors is a bittersweet chapter of the Marine Corps history. Gen. David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, said that the event was “a moment to celebrate the legacy of so many of our Marines who made the transformation through 4th Recruit Training Battalion,” while the commander of MCRD Parris Island, Brig. Gen Walker Field paid homage to the battalion’s cadre, saying “those Marines have transformed thousands of young women, and, since 2021, men, through rigorous basic training and our Corps’ cherished legacy, preparing them to win our nation’s battles”.
It is clear that the deactivation of the 4th Battalion is not an event that will be cherished by the Marine Corps. Likewise, the surrounding communities of Beaufort County might think that this action is the beginning of a slow drawdown of units at Parris Island in general. But there are a few aspects to this situation that bear explanation:
First, the deactivation of all-female training units within the Marine Corps was inevitable. A congressional order written into the 2020 defense authorization law ordered the Marine Corps to fully integrate women into its training battalions at Parris Island by 2025 and at San Diego by 2028. The Marine Corps, as usual, is charging ahead of that timeline by completing the integration process at Parris Island two years early. So, the action to close down the 4th Battalion was not in response to any overall trend or to criticism which Parris Island has recently received concerning climate change compatibility (criticism which is steadfastly documented and debunked by this blog and other credible organizations!).
Secondly, while Marine Recruit Depot San Diego will now begin to train female Marines, Parris Island will continue to receive female Marines for training and only lose a small portion of its cadre and recruits, mostly due to the integration process creating a more streamlined training operation. Concerned onlookers should by no means believe that this is the beginning of the end for Parris Island’s importance to the Marine Corps.
In the words of Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, “What matters most is making the very best Marines”. And in a world where Marines conduct all other training courses in integrated platoons and fight in integrated units, new recruits will now be forged into the latest generation of the very best Marines in integrated training battalions. While we salute the accomplishments and history of the outstanding 4th Recruit Training Battalion, we are also excited for the accomplishments of these future outstanding warfighters and glad that they will be made the way that Marines have always been made – at Parris Island.
