8. Never Forgetting She’s a Marine
Most accounts of Ihrke refer to her as an ex-marine, a fact she would dispute, as would any marine. Marine see themselves as active or inactive, but never as ex-marines. Almost everything that makes up one’s sense of self-becomes irrelevant in the Marines. What’s more important than self is what one’s self can contribute to the Marines. “When I was in the Marine Corps I very much felt like one of the guys,” Ihrke told the Daily Mail. “I did my best to blend in with the Marines around me, I didn’t want to stand out just because I was a female. I wanted to stand out because I was a stellar Marine.”