Article snippet: PARRIS ISLAND, South Carolina — There was a rumor at Parris Island that women didn’t hike as well as men. But Capt. Andrew Williams says that’s not true. “I wanted to squash rumors,” he says. It’s 4:30 a.m. and female Marine Corps recruits — their hair neatly slicked back in tight buns — are silently eating breakfast in the “Chow Hall.” The only time they speak is to acknowledge Williams and the other officers sitting at a separate table, a shouted “Good morning ladies, good morning gentleman!” as a sign of respect. “If you tell these young ladies that they can do anything, they absolutely can,” Williams says. He’s the commander of an all-female company of recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina — one of two enlisted boot camps for the U.S. Marine Corps, but the only location where women are trained alongside men. In 2018, it’s expected that 20,000 Marines will graduate from Parris Island, 3,500 of whom will be women. This year, the men and women will spend more time training side by side than ever before, including a grueling nine mile hike where it turns out the women keep up just fine. This gender-integrated training is very much on purpose. “This is where it all begins,” Gen. Glenn Walters, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told ABC News on a trip to Parris Island last week. “This is where honor, courage, and commitment is inculcated in our Marines. So the better we get it here, the easier it is... Link to the full article to read more