CULLMAN – Emma Goodwin graduated from Cullman High School in 2016 with her eyes set on serving the country that she loves by joining the United States Marine Corps. Goodwin left Cullman on July 4, on her way to becoming a U.S. Marines linguist. She trained at Parris Island in South Carolina, returning home as Pvt. Goodwin on Sept. 30.
Goodwin was the only female recruit to be sent from Cullman County to her platoon at Parris Island. “There were only two other females from the state of Alabama, but a bunch of males,” she said. She says she didn’t feel pressure representing not only Cullman High School and Cullman County, but also the state of Alabama, but she stated, “It was kind of strange, going from a rural town in Alabama to being around all of these people that I’ve never seen before. The whole environment was completely different from everything that I was used to… it was kind of strange, but a good experience.”
The training was rigorous. “We did everything that they guys did, to my knowledge,” said Goodwin. The only distinction between male and female recruits regarding physical training, according to Goodwin, is “women get an extra minute or so on our 3-mile time and, until recently, we were able to do the flex arm hang rather than pull ups…but while I was at boot camp, it was phased out.” She continued, “If women wanted a combat job, then the physical requirements were the exact same as the males.”
Having female recruits is a much larger deal than one may think. According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, roughly 7.3 percent of Americans have served in the armed forces at some point in their lives; Only 13.9 percent of current, active armed forces personnel are Marines, according to well-respected number crunchers Statistic Brain, who also report that the percentage of enlisted female Marines at 6.2 percent.
Cullman Marine Recruiting Station’s Staff Sgt. Smith calls Goodwin a “unicorn” because of just how rare she is—not only for being the first female that he’s seen from the region in his two years in the Cullman area, but for her ability to “bring everything to the table… intelligence, fitness, she brings it all.” Goodwin scored a 96 on her Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), which is the highest score from the region in five years, according to Smith.
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