Two female US Marines assigned to frontline combat jobs

Female Marine recruits are disciplined with some unscheduled physical training in the sand pit outside their barracks during boot camp. - AFP/Filepic

WASHINGTON: The US Marine Corps is assigning two women to frontline infantry roles, a first for the armed service under new Pentagon rules opening all combat jobs to women.

In a statement Tuesday, the Marine Corps said it had granted requests from two enlisted women to transfer into “ground combat arms specialties.” One will become a machine gunner, the other a rifleman.