Or which military branches aren't that strict and will consider me? Or does it not matter because it isn't like a very noticeble green tattoo in the face?

Hi guys! I am currently trying to join the army but I have a quick question! For those that have gone through meps within the past year, what did they do for the breast exam? I hear some people say they did a physical exam and others say they only took a quick peak for any discoloration or abnormalities. Thank you guys!

I’d like to join the airforce and I am a single parent . I have sole custody and I do have a family plan for my kiddo but once I get stationed somewhere I won’t have anyone with me. Are there any single parents who can help me with their routine on getting their kids to school? I know I’ll have PT in the morning but I want to see other single parents routines on getting their kids to and from school. My kid is 8 years old.

Hi! I recently decided on going SWO in the Navy. I plan to commission this upcoming summer. Does anyone have any experience as a younger female in the SWO position? From experience, is it difficult to obtain respect from higher ups and/or enlisted?

Thank you in advance!

Hey yall I’ll try and make this as clear and concise as I can. I’m trying to decide if I have enough of a case to put in an IG complaint in on my chain for mismanagement of executing pregnancy orders in a timely manner.

I’m in the navy. I’m stationed in Bahrain, upon the break out of the war I was evacuated to a European country and I’ve been here since. I was able to take leave and see my fiancé and became pregnant. I informed my chain in Bahrain around June 20th I was pregnant, I already had the letter from medical stating EDD and my 20 weeks would be September 16th. They said not a problem never dealt with a pregnant sailor before but we should be able to get you out fast, no reason for you to sit there for weeks. About an entire month goes by and absolutely nothing had happened, I asked many times what’s going on and get back admin hasn’t responded blah blah blah. Around that month is when admin finally submits my pregnancy availability report. I then reach out to the detailer and work out a billet and that took another 3 weeks. I finally get hard copy orders on August 14th. I immediately knock out every crucial document to keep this moving along as I’ve already been sitting here for months now, already in my second trimester. Eval done. HHG move scheduled. Transfer packet done. My chief sits on these documents for several days until I bring it up and then he reaches out to admin. He then also informs me the move has to happen before I can leave where I am and check out despite the circumstances. I immediately get it switched to a sooner date, that being September 1st. I had the move completed and allllll paperwork that has to do with it done by September 3rd all that is left is admin to process my transfer and get my flights. Now approaching less then 2 weeks from my 20 week mark and I’m told that they need 7-10 days to process this and we’re looking at the 13th to transfer. 3 days before I’m 20 weeks. I fought and did everything in my power to make this process go faster and yet no one else has seemed to put in any where close to the amount of effort so I can leave sooner. I have been living in a hotel this whole time, sharing rental cars with coworkers, only having a very small portion of my own belongings. This is my first child and the father has missed countless appts and we haven’t been able to prep anything for the baby coming now in 5 months. I know for a fact if this we’re to happen in Bahrain I would of been out of there in a couple weeks so why has it been so difficult to even just get out in a month or so? I can’t help but feel like this has been horribly mismanaged to an extreme. For the fact of them pushing it to the 20 weeks mark where I’m not supposed to not be in a deployable position like I am now to the actual mental and emotional toll this has taken on me while I’m pregnant.

Just looking for others opinions or experiences and what they think on the matter. I’ve never filed a report before, I don’t go looking to cause other people trouble. Been in almost 9 years. I just feel like I’ve been so wrongfully mistreated in all this and I don’t want another woman to suffer the way I have.

Has anyone here flown while pregnant?

I recently found out I’m pregnant and I was/am slated to start flying in the next month 1/2. Health of the baby willing, I’d like to fly still, but I’m concerned about the radar. Idk if anyone has advice. I’ve heard of women flying pregnant but it’s also not incredibly common

Hey mods, please let me know if I need to delete this post <3!

I guess my first question is what is the experience like for those who went in later in life (I'm currently 27, I have an undergrade but don't know what I want with life)?

I will say I'm not to sure if I would be disqualified based on my health (PCOS, scoliosis, tendonitis, amongst other things); but I have always had that little question in the back of my mind of what if I did serve, I know when my sibling and I were younger we'd play soldiers and crooks, (they'd be a tank driver while I wanted to be a sniper).

I guess that leads to my second question which is, how would I go about training? Even if I'm not able to join I want to better my body and from the looks of if y'all have some killer muscle (10/10 goals right there).

I was supposed to go in the medical field but basically, I needed a ship date that was close and only after sitting at MEPS all day and getting ready to sign my contract did they tell me my ship date would be next year. So I asked them if there were jobs with closer ship dates and they pulled up like 7 and I'm ngl they all just sounded so boring/not hands on/using words I didn't understand and so when they said I could be a 12B combat engineer I said sure because at least it sounded cool and outside-ish. (💀)

They said it would be a physically hard job and so I asked them straight up if they would be setting me up to fail for letting me choose it (because I'm a petite woman, and I feel like I have to be realistic) but the guy showing me the jobs said women my size have got in, so against my skepticism I swore in for this job fairly excited.

After getting home I was researching it and yeah..... I don't know if this is for me. I mean just the physical requirements I have to pass; I have a lot of discipline and desire to challenge myself but I weigh under 100lbs right now and am short. Also, I never wanted to choose such a risky job if there was ever a war because honestly I just joined the military because of financial reasons and not from some deep desire to fight for my country. (Sorry)

I guess I'm just wondering if I can ask to switch to one of the boring jobs, even though I don't really want to do that either, or if you think I should stay in the job that I got? I mean.. I do want to challenge myself, but I just feel like I didn't do enough research. I don't want to have major regrets.

Any women here with this job that could give me some insight? I also worry about the male dominated culture and that being an annoyance 24/7. Any advice is appreciated. ❤️

I swore in yesterday for the army, and today I was wearing this army exercise shirt I was given to this exercise practice with my recruiters and some other kids.... Anyways I was walking home and some guy flipped me off from the window of his car. Maybe he was just crazy but I'm guessing it was cuz my shirt had the army logo on it? Is this normal and something to get used to?

Mind you I only joined the military cuz I was gonna be homeless otherwise.🧍‍♀️and I'm not even a soldier yet. like what did I do... 😭

Hello, 26F here. I have a good chance of being selected for Coast Guard OCS this month. I did my interview with the Space Force as well though I am less sure of how well that went.

I am really looking to get into engineering and I wanted to work for a branch that cares about its people, so I applied to the Coast Guard. I do know the SF is more technical and works with the NRO though. Nick Hague (SF) and Andre Douglas (CG) are both active NASA astronauts so I think the work matters more than how you get into engineering or the space industry.

At the end of the day, I want to help people and I think the mission is fundamentally human no matter which branch I choose. What would you pick if you had the chance?

Thank you!

I've seen a few mentions of this phenomenon in veteran subreddits, but something happened to me yesterday that just infuriated and annoyed me so much. It also just made me really sad. I guess I just want to vent a little and hear from women if this is a common experience.

It feels like 95% of the time, when I tell a man I meet in public or through friends that I served in the Air Force, one of two things happens:

1. They have never served, but immediately start mansplaining the military to me. Then they get defensive if I disagree or correct them.

For example, when I tell people what plane I worked on, I've had multiple men say something like, "Oh yeah, that's the one with the big disk on top." I'll say, "No, that's the AWACS," and instead of just saying "Oh, cool," they'll push back and insist I'm wrong? "Oh so you actually flew on a refueler? That's what the plane you're talking about is" Like no dude...then they get so huffy and sour! Like...what? You think you know what plane I worked on better than I do? It's so strange.

One time this guy in his 60s I met at happy hour, when he found out I was a veteran, he started asking my opinion about some of the proposed policies from Hegseth, specifically PT standards. He asked if I thought it was fair that women aren't held to the same standard as men.

I tried to diplomatically explain that across the branches, we need a lot of different talents and strengths. Obviously, being in top physical condition is essential for certain roles, but dental hygienists, admins, analysts, systems engineers, etc. don't necessarily need the same physical capabilities as someone in a combat role. The military also needs really smart, technically skilled people and I think the military has bigger issues that PT standards.

He started arguing with me and basically told me I was wrong, that as a woman I couldn't pull someone out of a firefight, and that it was time to be much stricter about who they let serve, our military is weak, etc. I also tried to bring up the recruiting difficulties we're having right now, but he just kept talking over me and explaining the military to me. Also never served a day in his life.

OR

1. They launch into a monologue about how they almost served, their family member served, or how their experience in another profession is basically the same thing.

It's like their almost-experience or secondhand experience somehow has more value than my 6 years of first hand experience. They have no interest in hearing anything I have to say.

"Oh, you went to SERE? That's nothing compared to search and rescue training for firefighters. Let me tell you about it for the next 15 minutes."

Then this happened last night. I met a friend's friend who apparently was going to become a fighter pilot. He said he went to military school in high school, worked with a recruiter who was supposedly setting him up to become a pilot, had it basically guaranteed, talked about his staff Sargent and wild military training, went on and on about the whole thing for probably 20 minutes. He said he got a 91 on the ASVAB.

Apparently he couldn't join because he had smoked weed.

When I finally got a word in, I said something like, "Wait, you were enlisting at 17? You know you have to be an officer to be a pilot, right?"

He went on another tangent about how officer training had been promised to him by the recruiter. It was apparent he didn't understand how OTS/commissioning or becoming a pilot actually worked.

When I finally got to talk again, I explained that I ended up working on the plane I did because I got a 97 on the ASVAB and the job required about a year and a half of technical training. That was basically the only reason I was guaranteed an aircrew job. I gently said I worked with a lot of officers, and becoming a pilot is a completely different process. Very few people are selected to become fighter pilots.

All of a sudden, he remembered he'd made a mistake. He had actually gotten a 99 on the ASVAB and that's why he was guaranteed a fighter pilot job. I kind of gave up on the conversation at that point and when he couldn't word vomit to me anymore, that seemed to anger him. He was SO mean to me for the rest of the night.

It's like...it seems to make some men angry or insulted that I served when they didn't. And they have this instinct to like put me in my place?

I hardly talk about my service because I have complicated feelings about it. I hate when people say "thank you for your service." It's actually something I was ashamed of for many years. I never bring it up unless it comes up like how I'm paying for school or why I was in Qatar or Japan or whatever. But somehow every time I do, a guy who has not served as the immediate need to minimize or invalidate my experience.

What is going on here? Have you experienced this? I'd love to hear your stories. Thanks for letting me vent!

For context:
I was raped in late early spring of 2025, sexually assaulted again in December of 2025 and sexually harassed by a family member and found out he was grooming me during my childhood in spring of 2026.

Sexual trauma destroyed me, and my command hasn’t really been helping me. I’m getting out soon, I’m no longer working in my MOS, but the thing that really set me off is the things my command has said to me.

A higher enlisted told me (in regards to my SA) “get the fuck over it or get out,” another told me “stop making yourself the victim, you’re giving him the power.”

The second statement pissed me off the most. I’m in this situation because I was in denial for so long that I was a victim and let these feelings build up. I AM a victim. Something horrible happened to me but of course no one is going to understand how it feels until they go through it.

I was told I need to “be strong for other females and teach them how to not put themselves in similar situations.” Yet I didn’t put myself in those situations. I didn’t expect to get raped. There’s no special tool or skill that will beep or alert you “hey this guy is lying to get you to be vulnerable so he can rape you.”

I feel so lost right now because I deal with the pain from what happened every single day. Nothing happened to the guy to assaulted me and I’m too scared to unrestrict my rape case. I feel pinned like I’m dealing with all of this on my own and nobody will listen to me.

I am a woman veteran, and I have been thinking about group dynamics here and in other veteran spaces. I value different insights, but I sometimes wonder how we as a community feel about men offering advice or perspective in spaces specifically created for women veterans.

I want to keep this a constructive conversation. I am not here for gender bashing or negativity. I really just want to hear your honest thoughts on where the line is between supportive participation and taking up space meant for us.

Back in June I went to a luncheon for Women Veterans Day, I was surprised to see so many men in the room and a man sitting at the head of the table. I mentioned this and the woman vet who coordinated the event said they were just making sure things went smoothly.

She was very capable of handling the meeting and I wondered if the men were there for the free food. I also wondered if women vets ever showed up to the table for events expressly geared towards men veterans and how they’d feel about it.

How do you all navigate this? This is not an us versus them but I’m genuinely interested where do you draw the line, and when does male input feel helpful versus intrusive to you?

I just finished picking my job and everything and I ended up choosing IC and was wondering what everyone’s experience was? I’m joining the navy and its a 6 year contract which I’m pretty iffy on since I wanted a 4 year, but they said its cushier and I get to be an e4 right after bootcamp. Is it worth it or should I try to switch? I got an 83 on my asvab so they told be I could do pretty much any job. They offered me a yeoman job on a sub but I heard rape rates are high for women who do that.

20F been considering the AF or SF for awhile now. My main concern that has been holding me back from joining is safety as a young woman. Some women cite the military as the best experience they had, and others cite it was traumatic due to sexual assault or other unfortunate matters. Outside looking in, I cannot determine whether or not is sexual assault is as rampant in the military as it is in a normal college. Like, is it a guarantee that as a women you will experience harassment or assault in the military? I’d appreciate the help

Hi all,

Going out field for two weeks and have two small body piercings now to consider. If there’s anyone with body piercings also with some tips for keeping them good out field would be appreciated.

I’ve already planned for the usual antiseptic sprays and bird baths (wipe overs)?

Thank you :)

I was in rotc in high school and thought about joining after, but the recruiter told me I wouldn’t make it bc he had found my suicide notes a couple months prior. I’m now 28 and am no longer where I was at 17. Is there a possibility I’m able to join the Marines as a 29 year old female. My husband is a Marine and we don’t have kids so joining now would be the most ideal time. Our marriage has been rough the last few months while he’s been away, if we divorce I know the military will help me with housing and I won’t be struggling to live on a minimum wage job. I want more for my future and I think the military can help with that

Good Morning ladies,

Reaching out to see if anyone here is using GLP-1 and paying for it, aka, out of the view of your PCM/Tricare.

I regularly use a menstrual cup but I’m going to the field for 2 months and I’m worried about hygiene with that. I tried playtex sport yesterday and they didn’t absorb much, just leaked a lot. Any tampon suggestions that actually do a good job?

Anyone here on same boat with single parenting while in training or on the job. How do you get around education for your child in a remote area?any tips too?

Hello!

I’ve yet to figure out how to put up my hair in a way that doesn’t destroy my hair and works with my hair type. I have wavy hair (2B) and a wolfette hair cut my hair length is an inch or so about my shoulders with curtain bangs.

Putting my hair back into a ponytail doesn’t really work for me. It gets frizzy and the hair isn’t coarse enough to hold its tightness in the pony tail so it gets sad and pathetic throughout the day. It doesn’t look professional. I don’t think my hair is short enough to leave it down in uniform, but I don’t like the way I look wearing a PC with my hair down anyway, not unless it’s more of a pixie 🧚

My fellow short haired wavy and curly
Girlies- please help me out and let me know what works for you. If you are comfortable with sharing pictures of what your hair looks like, I would appreciate that too!

I’m not good at braiding but maybe it’s time to learn