Dear Lit Loves,
Oh wow, changes are afoot in all of the publishing industry. More small independent publishers are being consumed or bought by larger traditional and independent publishers. More small, independent publishers are closing their submissions to authors with literary agents. (Bad Idea) And many traditional publishers are consolidating imprints and relying on the "same old, same old" by which I mean, the authors who have continually brought them big sales in the past, memoirs "written" by celebrities, and memoirs written by so-called social media stars. What does this mean? It means, my good friends, that more underrepresented and struggling female debut memoir writers like myself are being shut out of publishing opportunities completely. And frankly, I say, "Resist. Persist. And Keep On Insisting That Your Voice Be Heard!".
It was actually perfect timing that I began reading the memoir titled Fight Like A Girl: The Truth Behind How Female Marines Are Trained by Kate Germano along with coauthor, Kelly Kennedy. This book was published by Prometheus Books in 2018 according to my copy of the book. Kate Germano is represented by literary agent, John Silbersack of Trident Media Group.
This book essentially informed me about gender bias and unequal training as well as harassment and abuse of female Marines inside our U.S. Marine Corps. As a young girl, Kate Germano, never thought anyone expected less of her because she was a girl. Her father was in the military so they did move around some as a family; however, after the family was sent to Germany for three years, Kate's mom decided she was not satisfied with just being a wife and mom so she and the kids moved back to Maryland. Kate's mom worked retail and slowly moved up the ladder of command. Her mom had a fierce independent streak so it was not surprising that Kate would also inherit this trait as well. When Kate is a sophomore in college, she attends a graduation at the Naval Academy and that is where her dream to join the military and rise up through its ranks ignited. She applies to the Naval Academy, but unfortunately, the recruiter informs her that her SAT math scores do not meet the Naval Academy standards. The Navy recruiter actually told Kate that she was not smart enough for the Navy nor would she ever be selected as an officer. At this point, she has a decision to make: quit or accept the challenge.
And then with much hard work Kate finds herself training at Marine TBS or The Basics School. She came up against challenges in land navigation and rifle shooting. Here is the kicker: no one bothers to show female Marines that the majority of the male patriarchy making up our Marine Corps expects female Marines to fail. It's the concept of well, a woman won't be able to carry a two hundred pound male Marine off a battlefield, female Marines have short arms and always shoot less accurately than male Marines, or there is no way a female Marine can keep up with a male Marine in training so lets just go ahead and put them in the back when we all line up for formation, marching, hiking, or running. It took Kate longer once she realized the chauvinistic mentality present in the U.S. Marine Corps, but she prevailed. We determined, dedicated, and competitive ones generally do because what people do not understand is that it is in our blood. It is what keeps us hauling ourselves up back on the horse when we get bucked.
By the end of Marine TBS or The Basics School Kate could choose to become a military policeman or an adjutant (human resource officer). Kate's captain at The Basics School points her in the direction of doing administrative tasks for the unit. The notion that women are better at typing and filing than shooting prevailed and is obviously quite pervasive throughout the Marine Corps. God Forbid if 100 percent of men ever truly believed we women can have your back fiercely when backed into a foxhole with you. Hell, I'd rather be the one leading the fight and another proud, fierce, and competant woman having my back personally, but presently that is not the way the ball bounces, but in due time, things change. In 2004 Kate deployed to Iraq with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit during the second battle for Fallujah. Her task here was administrative: she kept lists of deaths and casualties to ensure messages to the families of the fallen soldiers were sent correctly. Then her unit was tasked with security for the first elections in Iraq. Fortunately by this point in the war, the head honchos realized they were losing many personnel due to Humvees not being able to withstand attacks where the vehicles were hit by improvised explosive devices so the captains ordered all military vehicles to be up-armored to withstand IED attacks. Though Kate was not directly involved in Marine military combat this experience improved her confidence level and reinforced the harsh realities of war.
Kate next experiences being an operations commander for a recruiting division. Who knew recruiters could be making their quotas each month, bringing in big recruiting numbers, but also giving new recruits waivers if they did not meet Marine criteria?! And also, many recruiters were not ensuring new recruits were training with them weekly so they could pass initial strength tests in order to be eligible to quite possibly succeed through boot camp?! Kate steps in, resets the philosophy and upholds the original recruiting standards so there are lower attrition rates (Marine recruits who drop out of or are unable to withstand basic training or boot camp. And then the Marine recruiters not only have to meet their monthly "bones" quota, but also add to that count the number of recruits who dropped out of or failed boot camp.)
Finally, Kate arrives as Lieutenant Colonel of the female 4th Battalion at Parris Island, South Carolina. Once she arrives, chaos is already in full-swing and prevalent within the varying groups she oversees in the form of hazing, harassment, backstabbing, and very little being done to hold recruits and drill instructors accountable for their inappropriate and inexcusable behavior not to mention slackness. And to beat it all, the new recruits were barely getting by in terms of their requirements for strength ability, hiking, preparing hiking packs, learning to shoot and clean a rifle, and running requirements. Kate is determined to make an impact; a very sizeable positive impact and she utilizes data to support her efforts for change. Unfortunately, she has a boss who does not feel women belong in the military and most definitely has it in for Kate as a potential leader in the Marines. Her boss does little mentoring, gives almost no advice or direction, but yet insists all complaints about Kate be brought to him in my opinion so he can amass a whole binder of reasons Kate should not be a leader in the Marines. It is a downright hostile and demeaning work environment especially when you have higher ups in the chain of command deliberately working to ruin you as a woman, human being, leader, and fellow Marine.
I am not giving away the ending to this book, but if you are a woman who believes in herself and her abilities, tries to do the right thing the right way, works hard to only get paid less or has ever experienced demeaning, abhorrent behavior from your superiors at work, family at home or acquaintances in life, I would highly recommend doing what Kate Germano did: let your voice be heard and keep resisting, persisting, and insisting upon your rights to fair and equal treatment under the law, proper representation among leadership in any career you so choose, and finally, never let the bastards get you down. As my Falcons' motto says: RISE UP! This should be the calling for a whole new day, year, and future for women! GET WOKE, PEOPLE!
Quite obviously, I highly recommend this book. And I would like to thank both Kate Germano and coauthor, Kelly Kennedy for accepting this fragile, struggling writer's invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Ladies, YOU ROCK!
My next read is Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Till my next post or review...all my best!
Grace
(Amy)
