Farmingville's Maria Daume, first woman Marine to join the infantry, appears in PBS' 'Journey to America'

Maria Daume, 26, arrived in Selden at the age of 4 and today runs a personal training business in Farmingville, where she now lives. There's quite a life story in between, which you can catch on "Journey to America: With Newt and Callista Gingrich" airing on WNET/13 at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Hosted by the former House Speaker and the nominee to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, respectively, "Journey" celebrates nine U.S. immigrants, including a few (Albert Einstein, Hedy Lamarr, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini) who are renowned.

Among them, however, Daume — the first woman in U.S. Marines history to join the infantry through its brutal entry-level training process — is singular:

She and her twin brother, Nikolai, were born in a prison in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, then after the death of their mother, were placed in an orphanage when they were 2. The siblings were later adopted by a family in Selden. In a recent phone interview, she said she ran away from home by the age of 15, and ended up at Port Jefferson Station's Sunshine Prevention Center over what she now calls anger-management issues. (Bullying at school and difficult home life, she explains.) While there, she met Nancy Forestiero, the center's mental health director, who legally adopted Daume in August. "I needed a mom and Nancy was willing to be my mom," she says.

Daume had always been athletic — she was a standout on the Newfield High School Wolverines' girls basketball, field hockey and soccer teams — but especially impressed a pair of Marine Corps recruiters as a 12-year-old student when she effortlessly polished off a set of pull-ups. At that moment, she wondered, "What's better than serving my country? [And] the infantry looked like so much fun."

Years later, after applying for the infantry, there was pushback, which met the rock-solid resolve of Daume's own pushback. "I said [gender] does not matter. I can do this job better than half the men here." After her graduation from Camp Geiger's (part of Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina) School of Infantry in March 2017, the Voice of America lauded her completion of "one of the most difficult military operational specialties the school has to offer." As a Mortar Marine, she was part of a quick-strike reaction force, but never saw action during her eight years of service. (She received an honorable discharge in September at the rank of sergeant.)

On the phone, Daume is direct and forthright. Any argument over whether women should be in combat has long been settled, and she's part of the reason.

Nevertheless, she does have an opinion on women in the military. "I do not believe females should be in the infantry. Not that they don't have the ability to do it, but it's the way the military runs itself — and the politics."."

Daume — the mom of 3-year-old Isabella — also leaves the impression of someone who can handle herself. Proficient in mixed martial arts, she has plans to become a competitive bodybuilder.