Zarina is working to share more stories of female marines in her new podcast, The Green Logbook Podcast which is focused on sharing the stories of amazing female marines. Zarina is currently serving in the Marine Corps. She is a mom of two, married to a Marine and works as an admin. She also shared about being part of the experiment in 2015 to see if women could serve in combat roles.

Sharing the stories of female marines

Gunnery Sergeant Flemming immigrated to the U.S. in 2002. She didn’t realize how good her life was in Zambia until she moved to the U.S. When it was time to go to college it was too expensive so she looked at the military and ended up in the Marine Corps.

Heading to Japan

Her first assignment was to Japan. It was only a year and while she was there she met her future husband. Her brother was also assigned there so they got to see and do a lot in Japan. When she moved back to the U.S. she was in Fort Lee Virginia. Her brother was in Quanico and she visited him a lot. She also married her husband who was living in California. After a year in Virginia she was able to to transfer to California and be stationed with her husband.

Deploying with a nine month old at home

In July 2013 she deployed as the S-1 Non-commissioned officer in charge with Combat Logistics Battalion 6 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She shared how hard it was to leave behind her nine month old. He is still really close with his dad. She worked in a support role during the deployment. They were in charge of many different things but two things that stood out were making sure Marines were paid and distributing mail.

Combat Arms career field

In July 2014, Sergeant Flemming reported to Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) School at Camp Pendleton, California. There she earned the MOS of AAV Crewman 1833. In November 2014, Sergeant Flemming reported to the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where she served as an AAV Crew Chief in support of an experiment to transition women into combat arms MOS. At the conclusion of the GCEITF, in July 2015, Sergeant Flemming reported to Installation Personnel Administrative Center, New River, North Carolina where she served as the Quality Control and
Inbound Chief.

Continuing to serve

Today, she is still serving in the Marine Corps. Her family is moving to Japan this summer and she is also recently launched a podcast, The Green Logbook to help share the stories of female marines.