Based on my personality and being a female, will it be hard for me in the military?

Question

I'm a 19 year old female was considering enlisting, either active or reserve. I want to serve my country and I always do a job the best I can and have good integrety, and love physical challenges, but I'm worried about the people. So I'm definately not a partier, still a virgin, and don't use rough language, I guess I could be considered really innocent. I love people and always try to get along with everyone but Im just worried about things I've heard. I've heard multiple times from some of my friends her served that there's constantly parties, and alot of that pressure and that there are alot of rape cases. I want to enlist but I'm worried I guess. Will it be hard for my type? Does anyone have any thoughts?

Answer 1

You will have less problems than you seem to think. Yes there are the party people of both genders, but you're allowed to sit in a corner and read if that is your thing as well. Rough language is not expected. You WILL get yelled at, most of it in Basic training, but you'll learn to deal with it.

Safety is an issue for women wherever they go. All in all, I'd estimate that you'd be safer sexually in the military than you would be on a college campus. Guys, especially around the ages of 18-20's can be stuipid, but there are more protection afforded to women because of the anti-sexual harassment mind-set that prevails in the leadership. For an officer, having a sexual assault occur in his command is not good, but if he were to try to cover something up and it came to light, his career would be over.

One of the GREAT things about the military is meeting people from all walks of life. You'll meet people like former stock-brokers, farm boys, gang-bangers, oil roughnecks, factory workers, red-necks, surfers, college educated folks who wanted a challenge, and people who ended up in the military because they were too stuipid to fill out the welfare paperwork. (I can put a face to each category).

You'll visit places most people never get to see. You'll also have the sense of accomplishment that comes with having done something worthwhile. It's easy to talk about how much you love your country, but in the military you've proved it.

Answer 2

Look I am shy, I kind of keep to myself and I have done just fine so far. Yeah there is a lot of partying but that does not mean you have to join every one of them. It is a good idea every once in awhile as they are in a sense your family. I can not tell you much about the rape cases cause I was infantry on Active Duty meaning no chicks. I will tell you the Military has a zero tolerance for that thing, and from what I have seen it is blown out of proportion just have a battle buddy with.

From your personality it might be best to avoid a lot of the extra BS that comes with active duty and go in to a reserve component. I would encourage you to either join the Air Force Reserve, or the Air Guard. If you want to go active again the USAF. They have the highest % of females and they are not as gung ho as the Marines or the Army( Espicially Fort Bragg) What ever you dont tell the guys your a virgin it will bring a lot of extra cat calls on yourself. With that good luck on your decision if you need anything just ask here or you can drop an email. I have been in almost 6 years so I have some Idea of what I am talking about

Answer 3

It depends what branch you go in. I would suggest the air force, or coast guard. But even then, the male to female ratio is so high, that you will be hit on and oggled 24/7. If that bothers you, it might not be a good choice. It doesn't bother some women at all though, and believe it or not, a lot of women actually sign up for that reason lol. Since your a virgin though you probably aren't too interested in guys so I would say it's probably not a good idea. There's an urban legend that the female enlistees butts get bigger after getting out of basic from all the sex they have to make up for not getting any while they were in.... I'm guessing you have a small butt lol

Answer 4

I was in the army a while ago. I would say the best type of person for the army is a person who can have the robot attitude. You receive instructions you do what your told. There is not a lot of free thinking until after the fact.

In my time I heard of a few cases of sexual harassment, and rape. I felt that the key was a girl alone in the woods was more vulnerable than a girl with another girl in the woods. It is not much different than what I have heard on some college campuses.

I do not like the way women are treated in the military at all though. There are separate standards and I think that causes problems. Will the bullets slow down for a woman? There was a lot of special treatment where women were not really expected to pull their guard duty and men had to cover. It caused lots of problems.

There were a lot of good girls there, and it sounds like you are one. The did there job and they did not have problems with anyone. It is an honarable thing to serve your country and it certainly helped me get my life in order. Digging foxholes for a couple of years was all the inspiration I needed to go well in college.

Best of luck to you.

Answer 5

Some of the best soldiers I know are quiet, polite girls.

However, it might be more prudent for you to apply for the Reserve forces at this point, since you can never be certain what other soldiers do for entertainment in their free hours. Get a more limited exposure to the military lifestyle and make an educated decision about what you want to do from there.

Answer 6

Well if you are looking for endless male attention then the military would be paradise for you. Oh sure they will all be pretending to care about what ever it is you have to say just to get into your pants while deployed, but you will think you are special. Just do yourself and everyone else a favor, If you do join, go Air Force. They have panzied it up so much over the last decade that you wouldn't have to change much to make it by. If you are the kind of person who is uncomfortable standing up for yourself on a regular basis, please don't join the Army, they have enough problems with out having to deal with just one more sexual assualt case in the making.

Answer 7

with the worry you are putting on yourself, enlist as a reservist. That is how I did it. You can always go active later if you want. If you enlist as active, you just cant go back to reserves at the flip of a switch. If you are looking for career opportunites when you get out, I would suggest the coast guard. They do every thing that any other branch of the military does. I myself was enlisted in the airforce. The other branch with a number of career opportunities is the navy. Remember, those recruiters are looking for numbers. Do your own homework before making a desicion.

Answer 8

Stay strong on your morals and don't put yourself in the situation and you should be fine. You don't have to be a partier in the military to make rank. It fact it is the opposite. If you are a professional and you keep an open mind and don't use your free time funneling beer, you could work on the areas that you lack in and become a better soldier. As a female in the military it will be hard. You will come on to the stigma as either a *****, whore, or lesbian. Don't worry what small minded people think and continue on. Good luck.

Answer 9

You sound like me once I first went in to the army. not one of the failings you point out set an alarm off for me. i'd evaluate perhaps getting into as an officer extremely than enlisted. A cost would suit you better character-clever. you may look in to ROTC and get a level out of the deal too. so some distance as what you have heard, there are not to any extent further events than in highschool or college. You get out of it what you put in to it. With that stated, oftentimes you build on what you have already got in the protection rigidity. the better of success to you. touch me in case you prefer any specifics from yet another woman in the protection rigidity.

Answer 10

Sweetie, there may be a lot more swearers, fornicators, and partiers in the military than in other walks of life, but there are also a lot of awesome, honorable men and women too. Did you know that the military provides you with chaplains, chapels, etc.? If you are a "Miss Goody Two Shoes," LIFE will be hard on you! Satan mocks the innocent to get them to feel shame for doing what is right. And it works on many! So, yes, you do face that in the military too.

But I've known LOTS of Christians in the military. LOTS! They are there to serve their country and to glorify God. That's their mission, their calling, their purpose. So, it comes down to some pretty basic questions:

Why are you there? To be their victims? To be easy prey for Satan? Or are you their to serve... God and country? If your beliefs are strong and your mind determined to walk with Christ and not with a bunch of partying yahoos then you'll be okay. It is about conviction! Yet, you say that you are scared. That's a red flag!!! So, pray on it! Pray hard! Ask God for strength and wisdom. Ask God what HE wants you to do. I trust you'll get your answer (one way or the other).

Lord bless. And God bless America!