“I never wanted to be the exception. I wanted to be the proof that it was possible for anyone willing to go an extra mile.”
An Athlete Who Wanted More Than a Trophy
Bailey Weis played competitive soccer at the University of Georgia and in the Women’s Soccer League for the Atlanta Silverbacks. She was good enough to make a career of it. She chose a different field entirely.
She joined the U.S. Marine Corps because she wanted to be part of something with a greater purpose, and from the moment she enlisted, she kept choosing the harder path. Not for recognition. Because she genuinely wanted to know what she was capable of.
The First Woman to Graduate Infantry Training Battalion
Soon after completing boot camp, Bailey heard that women would be allowed to attempt infantry training as part of an experiment before the gender combat ban was lifted. She volunteered immediately. She did not wait to see how it would unfold or whether others would go first. She simply raised her hand.
In 2014, she graduated from the Infantry Training Battalion, becoming one of the first female 0311 riflemen to do so. It was a milestone that said less about ambition and more about character. Bailey was not trying to make a statement. She was trying to find out what she was capable of.
That question would keep leading her forward.
The Course That Tested Everything She Had
In 2016, Bailey deployed in Operation Odyssey Lightning as an AV-8B avionics technician. She came home and immediately set her sights on something no woman had yet completed: Marine Corps Special Operations Assessment and Selection (MARSOC).
She trained for seven to eight months. By the time she arrived, she could run with a 45-pound rucksack, deadlift 225 pounds, and bench press around 140. She was the only woman in her training cycle, training right alongside the men for every event.
“When you’re doing all the events and you’re able to do everything with them, you earn their respect. I never experienced any negativity.”
In 2018, Bailey became the first woman to complete both phases of MARSOC’s Assessment and Selection course, recognized personally by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert B. Neller.
The Next Chapter
After completing both phases of Assessment and Selection, Bailey was not selected to continue to the Individual Training Course, the nine-month pipeline that turns Marines into Raiders. She received the news with the same composure she had brought to every challenge before it. “[MARSOC] would’ve been a nice option,” she said. “But there are a lot of other opportunities out there.”
General Neller personally called Bailey to encourage her to consider Officer Candidates School. She weighed her options, and ultimately made the decision that felt right for the next chapter she was building.
She left the Marine Corps after nearly five years of service. She was commissioned in the Army National Guard. And she went back to school/
Turning Experience Into Research That Will Last
In 2021, Bailey earned her MBA from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. She then pursued her doctorate at Liberty University, and chose a research focus that only someone with her background could have approached from the inside.
Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 2024, examined the physiological and psychological characteristics of female elite warfighters who have completed special operations selections or elite military courses across the U.S. Armed Forces. Using interviews, surveys, and case analysis with eleven pioneering women, including graduates of MARSOC Assessment and Selection, the USMC Basic Reconnaissance Course, Combat Dive School, and Army Ranger School, her research gave voice to the experiences of the women who had walked the same path she had.
Her research and expertise focus on performance optimization, gender integration in elite military units, and the physiological and psychological demands placed on tactical athletes. She is not just someone who made history. She is someone who is now building the scientific foundation to help others follow.
Today, Bailey serves as Director of Operations at Testudo, bringing the same discipline and mission-driven focus she developed in the Marine Corps into a healthcare staffing organization dedicated to serving those who serve.
What Bailey’s Story Leaves Us With
“She doesn’t do it for the limelight; she does it to prove to herself and her team that she can do it.” ~ Bailey’s father.
It’s a line that captures her clearly. She stepped into the Infantry Training Battalion because the question hadn’t been answered yet. She prepared for MARSOC with the same mindset, not for recognition, but to see how far she could go, and what was possible.
That same intent carried forward into her academic work. She didn’t leave those experiences behind; she built on them, turning them into research that brings structure, evidence, and understanding to paths that were once uncertain.
Her story isn’t just about being first. It’s about what happens after, how those first steps become something others can follow, with more clarity, more support, and more possibility than before.
