August 23, 2018: This past week, the U.S. Marine Corps publicly acknowledged a first in its history: First Lieutenant Marina A. Hierl is leading an infantry platoon. She is the first woman to do so in Marine Corps history, a ground-breaking achievement for a military branch that once forcefully opposed allowing women in combat.  Hierl is only one of two women to pass the Corps’ rigorous combat evaluations course (37 women have attended), and the first to lead a platoon.

The military has 1.3 million active troops, and only 15 percent of them are women. Women still need to satisfy the rigorous physical and mental demands of combat training. Today, the Marine Corps has only 80 women in previously combat-excluded roles. The Army has fared better, with 740 women now in jobs they once were not allowed to hold. It is a slow process.

Read more: Another Crack in the Glass Ceiling for Women in the Military (www.bostonglobe.com)