 When women first enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1918, they were limited to mostly secretarial duties. Known as marinettes, they totaled just over 300 and could not advance and rank beyond sergeant. But with the formation of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in 1943, rank opportunities expanded and the first female Marine officers received their commissions. The Marines have offered you a full partnership. And share in the splendid traditions of this famous fighting organization. Serving in jobs that would free a Marine to fight, more than 18,000 women answered the nations call to duty during World War II. It was those women who paved the way for the female Marines of today to proudly wear the equal globe and anchor. To this day women are still prohibited from serving in occupations involving direct combat. But the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has made the combat exclusion law difficult to comply with. Not having a true front line in the global war on terror, along with the need to respect the Muslim custom forbidding men from touching women, led the Marine Corps to develop the lioness program. The lioness program is for going out on the checkpoints around the area and searching the females that come through either by foot or in the vehicle. Before that can happen, female service members must first learn local customs and cultures. They're also trained in Marine Corps martial arts, weapons handling, and rules of engagement. It's usually a far cry from their everyday duties, but it's a job they volunteer for. This is the story of one lioness. She had a nickname that we called her Boo. Proud mothers hardly ever hold back. Because she cried a lot when she was a baby. And neither do former bosses. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought somebody's little sister came in in their kennels. That's not far from the truth. Jennifer Marie Parcell grew up a tomboy, following the shadow of her older brother Joe. They got along actually pretty good, but sometimes when they got older they would be wrestling around. I would get on Joe because he was stronger than her. Jennifer was used to it though. Growing up with a house full of cousins right next door to her Bel-Air Maryland home, she never lacked for adventure. She always had bruises all over her legs. Right after they did, she did. It didn't matter. She was tough. I mean, she was a tough little thing. She stayed tough over the years. Even her teachers described her as the one who could make things happen, no matter what. Like most teens, she floated around a couple jobs after high school. But it wasn't until she went to her brother Joe's graduation from boot camp at Paris Island when something clicked and Jennifer finally found her calling. Just months after earning her Eagle Globe and Anchor on the very same parade deck as her brother, Jennifer received her first assignment. Landing support specialist, Third Marine Logistics Group, Okinawa, Japan. I picked her up and she told me where she was going and you should tell me she was going to Okinawa and I wasn't surprised. I said, Jenny, I knew you were going to do that. That's what I told her. I said, I knew you were going to do it. So she was happy about it. She wanted to travel. Private first class parcel hardly had any time to settle into her new room before she was sent to another corner of the globe. The young PFC soon found herself delivering food and supplies to villagers during earthquake relief operations in Pakistan. That meant more to Jennifer than anything in her career is going to Pakistan. Besides helping the locals, she also developed new friendships. And it was always the fight as to who was going to catch the American flag or put up the Pakistan flag or whatever, but I always had colors with her morning and night, rain or shine, cold, warm, anything. Jennifer's happiness wasn't limited to raising the stars and stripes in Pakistan. She embraced the challenge of proving to the Pakistani men that a girl is equally capable of getting the job done. You know, she thought it was kind of funny because they wanted to take pictures and they couldn't believe she was out there. Sometimes I wondered how she stayed on the ground being as like as she was. It was during her time in Pakistan that Jennifer proved to her fellow Marines that she carried a presence bigger than her body. At only five foot two, they called her the biggest little girl they ever met. Jennifer spent the following year expanding on her new friendships. On trips to Iwo Jima, she recited Marine Corps history to her unit. She spent time exploring the island and she trained with her Marines. In August 2006, Lance Corporal Parcell deployed to Al Anbar Iraq. It might sound funny, but I didn't worry about her. Strong words when both of your children are away to war. But Joe was wrapping up his tour. He headed home. Jennifer, on the other hand, just got there, ready to make a difference, anxious to do her part. She did it in the Lioness program. Volunteering without ever having told her family. Everything was fine. She says, what are you doing? I said, Jenny, I'm in bed at 12.30 in the morning. And she goes, you know, like I said, she's on the quanta. She was leaving. I don't know. It was the weirdest thing when I hung up the phone. This is a bad feeling just came over me, you know. But you know how I was kind of, she woke me up from a sleep. So I kind of just went right back out. And I never talked to her again after that. That's the last time I talked to her. I had a bad feeling about it. On February 7, 2007, not long after this picture was taken and only weeks before she was scheduled to go home, a female suicide bomber attacked Corporal Parcell's checkpoint. She initially survived, but her petite frame could not endure the damage. It gave way not long after. Her death made her the fifth female Marine to be killed in action in Iraq. She was 20 years old. My initial reaction was, it couldn't be true. It made me disbelieve. I got a phone call and I was told, you know, might want to sit down. I didn't think much other than think anything about it because I saw her a month before she left and I haven't heard anything since. When I heard I was like, oh, maybe I didn't need to sit down. And then that night when I drove to the PX and I heard colors, I just sat in my car and cried because it wasn't the same after that. Who is that? It was like 2.15, I think it was. I'm like, wow, you know, who could that be? And as soon as I opened the door, I didn't even open the screen door. I saw there, I knew. And I knew when I opened the door that she was gone. And when they come in, they said, you might want to sit down. I said, just tell me, just tell me. With her family's grief shared by an entire town, she was laid to rest little more than a mile away from the home she grew up in, wearing her dress blues and her purple heart. Together here today, remember the fallen comrades. Memorial services were held in Okinawa as well. Most of the Marines knew her as Corporal Parcell. A privileged few knew her simply as Jenny. Either way, she was the true embodiment of a Marine through and through during her short life. Fierce in battle, gentle in friendship, a nurturing friend, a proud sister, and a loving daughter. Life continues for Pam Simon and her family, and Jennifer's still there every step of the way. I just come and check on it and make sure, you know, like now this grass is getting on my nerves. Their home still screams Marine Corps. Marine statues and photos adorn the living room while Jennifer's is filled with promises of a different life. A life that is honored in Jennifer's other room. Thousands of recruits take their oath of enlistment at the Baltimore Military Entrance Processing Station. On this day, more than two years after her death, the very room she and her brother took their oaths in became the Corporal Jennifer Parcell Ceremony Room. Of course, I was on board with it. I said, that's great. It's another way for people who won't forget her. Corporal Parcell and her family That's Pam's biggest fear, but as thousands more Americans like 18-year-old Nanette Montufar raised their right hands here, it's not likely to happen. I know it's like the first ceremony being with her picture in here and after the ceremony just running in is like very exciting. There are no words to describe it. You just feel like how to speak for something like that. She's just a perfect example of volunteer and someone dedicated to service and a family that suffered a tremendous loss in their life but understand the greater picture the purpose of it all. The Lioness program still continues today aiding in the expansion of projects like the female engagement teams in southern Afghanistan. The team's objective is to interact with Afghan women who've been silenced for years under Taliban rule hoping to understand their plights and one day give them a voice of their own. The only way the Marines can do that, however, is by suiting up in full gear and going outside the wire where combat can erupt at the drop of a dime. They're proud to do it though and able because of the sacrifices made by other female Marines like Corporal Jennifer Parsell who prove that every beginning comes from an end. From our nation's capital, I'm Sergeant Todd Hunter.