One of the first female Marines to acquire a position in the infantry was recently discharged for having a romantic relationship with one of her subordinates, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
Cpl. Remedios Cruz, 26, was accused of fraternization, adultery, and accessory to larceny — charges that could have lead to a court-martial — for her relationship with a fellow Marine who eventually became her husband. In July, she pleaded guilty to the fraternization charges and was reduced in rank from sergeant to corporal.
Fraternization prohibits “unduly familiar” relationships between service members of differing ranks. Charges of fraternization are not uncommon, and they are rarely punished by court-martial.
The officer overseeing the pretrial hearings found no probable cause for the adultery or larceny charges, but Cruz’s battalion commander at the time recommended she face the charges that would have led to court-martial. Col. Kevin Norton, the commanding officer of the Fourth Marine Regiment, however, suggested counseling instead and said that from an “institutional point of view, we did not set up Sgt. Cruz for success.”
Cruz joined the Marine Corps in 2013, completed infantry training in 2014, and requested transfer to an infantry unit in 2016. She joined 1st Battalion, 8th Marines in January 2017, and she was married before the battalion deployed to Japan in August of that year. Senior commanders, after the deployment, were alerted to the relationship. They, then, opened an investigation.
Out of 15,800 female Marines, only 80 serve in combat roles and 24 in infantry billets. Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all combat roles in the military to women in 2013. The Marine Corps initially challenged the order, but they were overruled and in 2015 allowed all women to have the opportunity to serve in the infantry.
Cruz said in an interview to the New York Times that “I had a taste of what it was like to train to fight. And I felt like if I was going to say that I served my country, I wanted to be able to just do that — but not on the sidelines.”
The Marine could receive an other-than-honorable discharge, which would strip her of all VA benefits and hurt her prospects of future employment in the civilian work sector. She still awaits discharge.
“The biggest mistakes I’ve made in the infantry were from my personal relationships,” Cruz said to the New York Times. “I really want to move on.”
Capt. Jacob Johnston, Cruz’s lawyer, said of the matter: “Regardless of the outcome of this case, Cpl. Cruz has been a courageous pioneer for women in the military, and she has earned a place in Marine Corps history.”
