I first learned about Kate Germano from an advertisement for her book Fight Like a Girl: The Truth Behind How Female Marines are Trained. I’ve always been fascinated with people different from myself or from anyone I’ve previously known well. Even though I wrote The Lady with Balls, and have been considered a pioneer in the ’70s male-dominated industry of recycling equipment and supplies, I can’t imagine being in the military other than as the spouse of a serviceman. I was brought up to be feminine and nonathletic, and my mother couldn’t understand why my father’s sister was proud of her daughter’s outstanding basketball accomplishments. When my dear customers, the garbage company owners, christened me “the little lady with balls,” I knew my mother would be horrified, so I never told her; to be honest I was uncomfortable with that moniker till decades later when it became de rigueur for women to be assertive.
After I read Germano’s eye-opening book, which included a few chapters written by her husband who described her as sexy and beautiful, I was dubious about her attractiveness. I learned, however, that Joe’s description was right-on when I visited her website—and especially when I viewed her Ted talk, as this poised, gorgeous, and feminine brunette presented herself in a shimmering, high-necked, sky-blue sleeveless blouse that accentuated her beautifully sculpted arms. Her straight skirt and high heels completed a look to die for. I was amazed that a person of my gender who chose a soldier’s life could be so glamorous.
And a dedicated Marine she was! Constantly examining her own leadership style, Kate acknowledged how she could improve not only herself but all female Marines. With such an attitude, she rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before completing her eighteenth year of service. Kate’s husband, who had connections in Washington, D.C., learned that she was under consideration for promotion to brigadier general.
Sadly, Kate’s zealousness became her downfall. We all know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Too often, however, those squeaky wheels get thrown under the bus, and the grease is applied elsewhere. Kate’s powerful “superiors” didn’t agree with all of her suggestions.
Kate didn’t merely improve her own leadership, but actively and retroactively improved the U.S. Marines. Beginning in June 2014 Kate’s leadership position was Lieutenant Colonel, Fourth Battalion, commander of 1,000 female recruits during their thirteen-week training sessions at Paris Island in South Carolina. Also there, 3,000 male recruits simultaneously took their training sessions under the three other battalion commanders, all of whom were men, still segregated, but in the same open area.
Kate felt humiliated upon discovering that when the completion of the Crucible (a back-to-back series of grueling physical endeavors) was celebrated, with all the recruits standing at attention, only the women were allotted chairs—in the event they felt the “need” to sit. The supposition was that they were more fragile, and Kate argued against this alleged benefit, which she considered a lack of respect. She stopped her female recruits from setting up the chairs, and the male leaders made no objections.
Kate was also displeased that for rifle target shooting the women’s qualification score was 67–78%, whereas the men’s was 85–93%. She understood the powerful negative influence of the Golem effect—low expectations lead to lower performance—so she raised the expectations and implemented improved training programs, which not only led to the women shooting as accurately as, or even better than, the men but also cut the female injury rate to one comparable to the males’ injury rate.
Kate objected to more sexist disparities than I can cover in this blog. After she implemented huge changes that increased the overall readiness of female recruits, she went in for her big plunge: male-female integrated recruit battalions. After all, by the 1990s every military service other than the Marines had integrated boot camp.
Kate didn’t buy the “separate but equal” idea the Marines’ top brass stubbornly adhered to, and they didn’t buy into Kate’s well-documented logic. Whether we call them misogynistic or call them unimaginative, Kate was too much of a pistol for those stodgy men. How dare a mere woman, not even a general, think of upsetting the status quo? As a result, in June 2015, Kate was “fired” from her command and sent to an uninteresting job for her remaining time in the military.
Kate retired in 2016 and became a fierce public advocate for integrated boot camp. She was one of many women—and some men—who petitioned Congress, resulting in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires the Marines Corps to train men and women together. Let’s say Kate Germano lost her battalion but won the war.
We salute you, Col. Germano, for improving the U.S. Marines!