QUANTICO, VA — She's been in combat, she wants to radically reorganize the Marine Corps, and she thinks male Marines need to stop whining and put their big girl panties on. This week we sat down for a one-on-one interview with Gen. Isabella Santiago, who sources at the Pentagon say is poised to become the Marine Corps' first-ever woman commandant.
Santiago will replace current commandant Gen. James Amos, whose term has been marred by a series of public relations fiascoes and scandals. While it is unusual for a commandant's successor to be named this early, Pentagon sources say the recent photograph of Amos wearing a Raider patch was the last straw for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who quietly told the general it was time to move on.
Gen. Santiago has a colorful history. Because of previous restrictions on women in combat positions, she received her initial commission as a Military Police Officer in 1974. She later transferred over to combat logistics, where she served during the Gulf War, as well as Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. She came out of the War on Terror suffering from multiple concussions caused by IED attacks, which left her with a noticeable slur and case of Tourette syndrome that ended her brief posting as a Pentagon spokeswoman.
For the past two years she has been assigned to the Marine Martial Arts Center for Excellence in Quantico, which in her words "is a great opportunity to beat some goddamned sense into all the new lieutenants hitting the fleet."
