; Whereas, in the 1970s, the majority of billets were opened to women, including to attend the Drill Instructor Academy, and, in 1977, the first co-ed Basic School class commenced with 22 females; Whereas, in 1972, Master Sergeant Catherine G. Murray became the first female Marine to retire from the Corps, serving honorably for nearly twenty years; she lived to be one hundred years old and passed away peacefully on December 20, 2017, and was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery; Whereas, on May 11, 1978, Colonel Margaret A. Brewer was promoted to brigadier general, the first female general in the Corps’ history; Whereas, in 1993, Second Lieutenant Sarah Deal became the first female Marine accepted into naval aviation training; Whereas, in 1994, Brigadier General Carol Mutter became the first female Marine promoted to major general, and in 1996, she became the first female three-star officer across the military branches; Whereas the first group of women Marines completed integrated Marine Combat Training Course at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, in 1997; Whereas First Lieutenant Vernice Armour became the first African-American female combat pilot in any military service branch, flying the AH–1W Super Cobra attack helicopter in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and serving two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; Whereas the first all-female Marine Team conducted its first mission in southern Afghanistan in 2009; Whereas Sergeant Major Angela Maness became the first female to assume the duties of the senior enlisted Marine at Marine Barracks Washington, known as the oldest post of the Corps , in 2013; Whereas the first 4 females graduated from the School of Infantry in January 2016, and, on September 25, 2017, the first female Marine graduated from the Infantry Officer Course since the course opened to women in 2012; and Whereas today female Marines make up 7.6 percent of the Corps’ strength, and serve in 82 percent of all Military Occupational Specialties: Now, therefore, be it