She Goes on Maneuvers

Bootcamp. Sweat and grunts. Live grenades, M-16 rifles, obstacle courses, combat practice. Cliffs, swamps, minefields, foxholes, helicopter pads. No place for women? Nowadays they undergo the rigors of military training right alongside the men. TIME's Joelle Attinger joined the Marines at Quantico, Va., for part of a three-day mock war, the final exercise of 21 weeks of training completed by 239 male and 15 female second lieutenants. Her report:

O715 hours: The day is hot and humid. Lieut. Jo Duden, 29, of E Company's 2nd platoon, checks to make sure she has rations, insect repellent, water, then straps her gas mask around her waist. Her 30-lb. knapsack makes her look twice her normal size.

0745: Four platoons (200 troops) meet in a silent hollow for final briefing. Another 40 lieutenants, located elsewhere, are the "aggressors." Duden smears black and olive green camouflage paint on her face, then loads rounds of blank ammunition into her M16. "You each get 60 rounds," yells a commander. "They have to last you until tonight."

0930: The platoon moves out toward the objective, a helicopter pad 800 meters away. Duden and the advance fire team climb to the top of a small hill while the rest of the platoon, headed by Lieut. Steve Darnell, pushes through the wooded terrain. All the soldiers creep silently through the underbrush. "It's pretty quiet," whispers Duden. "I just hope Darnell hasn't gotten us lost again."

1105: Duden crouches near the shoulder of a small dirt road, the objective only 100 meters away. From another platoon, gunfire breaks out. "Those idiots!" Duden grumbles. "This is a surprise attack, and now the aggressors know where we are." A fire team moves to a ridge, setting up machine guns to cover the platoon as it crosses the road.

1120: "Let's go!" yells the platoon commander. The troops rush into an open field. Gunfire cracks in the air. The Marines capture the helicopter pad in ten minutes. While Duden helps guard the perimeter, the others disarm the P.O.W.s and search them for coded messages. "If we capture a female aggressor, we're not allowed to search her," Duden explains. "That's one concession they had to make."

1230: Several Marine helicopters pick up the soldiers and fly them to a small field bordered by pines. Duden jumps over a small ridge, turns quickly, falls to her stomach and covers the open field with her M16. As the last copter leaves, she relaxes. "Good news!" someone yells. "We have 30 minutes to eat."

133O: "We're moving out!" yells the platoon commander. Duden slaps on her helmet and shoulders her knapsack. The next objective, a bivouac site, is about 1,500 meters away. Firing breaks out. Duden crouches with the M-16 on her shoulder. The platoon wades through a stream 3 ft. deep. Darnell, barreling ahead, pushes past Duden. "Don't you ever shove me again!" she shouts after him.

153O: The battle is over. Duden drops her knapsack, takes off her helmet and wipes her brow. She starts digging a foxhole to make camp. "How you do really depends on what kind of woman you are," Duden says. "You have to be aggressive."

After three days on maneuvers, Duden drives to her home in Alexandria, Va., where she lives with her two stepdaughters and her husband, a former combat artist in Viet Nam who now paints full time. Duden's work pays off: she is the first woman to achieve "honor graduate" rating at the Marine's tactical training course. In January she and her family will be sent to Okinawa.

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