A former female trainee in the Royal Marines has spoken out about being sexually assaulted during her training, only for the incident to be dismissed by commanding officers as 'high jinks'. The woman, identified only as Isabel, said she felt ostracised to the point of becoming suicidal after the assault.
Isabel, then 18, had joined the Royal Marines band in 2014. During a stay in the medical ward, a male recruit simulated ejaculation on her face and then got into her bed, which she described as a sexual assault. She reported the incident, but officers pressured her to drop the complaint, calling it 'high jinks'.
Isabel eventually left the base and later received compensation. She said the Marines 'want to protect the chain of command' rather than women. The Royal Navy insists it has done 'a great deal of work' to improve support for victims.
The Royal Marines remain heavily male-dominated, with women making up just 1.3% of personnel. No woman has yet completed the commando training since it opened to women in 2018.
