Advice and thoughts on woman joining Infantry (11B)?

Ashley Nicole , it depends on your goals for your life and military experience. I'm guessing you may have talked to a recruiter. I hope you talked to recruiters from Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. If not, you might want to shop around more before deciding on Army Infantry.

As far as after-Service employment, the transportation, supply, logistics planning, communications, medical, military police, and IT career areas often match more closely with civilian job opportunities than infantry does. However--and it's a big however--if your goal is a military career, then I recommend a combat arms specialty. The most senior officers in the military services are mostly operations types. In the Army that's infantry, armor, aviation, artillery, special operations, Air Defense artillery, and cavalry.

Give it some thought and then pick the Service and MOS/AFSC that offers you the best deal. "Best Deal' is personal. If joining the military immediately is your highest priority, then getting an early accession date would be your first priority. If specialty is number one for you, then the Service that offers you the type of job you want should be your first choice. Lots of other considerations need to be prioritized before you pick a Service and Job including locations where you might be stationed after training, the type and length of training, opportunities for promotion in the career field, and others.

Best of luck. Let us know what your decide to do.

My daughter wanted to be a firefighter but couldn't carry a 200 lbs man down a ladder. She became a volunteer firefighter and saved her whole team when their captain got them trapped in a burning house. If it were possible to say you can do everything but like not climbing the ladder it's not right to put others at risk. With my small stature I excelled in what I could do. I started out as a Medic caring for the wounded to supervising building a portable fully functioning hospital in one day. Do what you can do with pride in your ability to do it. It doesn't matter what kind of crap you take to do it.

As a retired 11b, I will say first, are you looking for a marketable skill? 11b presents little options on the job hunt. Are you thick skinned? 11b is the elite, 100 percent is not enough.

it depends on the female, some would be just fine in the Infantry

Although women have broken through the glass ceiling (so called). Enlisted women are still struggling in the recognition area, in that promotions will still be easier for males.
You may want to look into MOS’s that are Combat Support and Combat Service Support. Such as 13F Forward observer this position requires special abilities and is directly related to combat operations ( an Infantry soldier with a little more special training). and are highly respected by their Infantry counterpart.
In any case, whatever you decide.
Because no matter what MOS you decide, you will and can still be a large part of our service. Everybody in the Army Works to support the Infantry.

If its not your #1 choice, don't do it. Follow through on your #1 choice. I joined the infantry, that was my choice, read the other responses, be ready to be out in the rain and cold. Carry 80/90 lbs of equipment, walk in the mud for days on end, no showers for days on end. These are just starters of why

Understand Infantry is a culture into itself. Its a shitty ass job and we deal with it in weird ways. Them ways is mostly by ridicules, dark, sometimes mean jokes. We are also super alpha and are tough when it comes to discipline. We cant afford to cut slack or allow any questioning (asking why just to ask why, obviously there is a time and place for questions), disrespect or decention. We stomp on that hard and fast, and we do that by what other MOS might think is harsh ways (What we may deem as a super justified reason to smoke the hell out of someone, other MOS are aghast at seeing us do so). instant obedience is vital in our job. As a women coming in, you have to understand that there is a culture and it is a boys club in many ways, and many are afraid that it will change becouse of women. So be ready for people being weary until you prove yourself. You have to come in ready to put out 100% and not to seek any special treatment (even if u dont ask for it, dont accept it, or put urself into situation where it looks like you received it)

I have been infantry for 18 years and done every job in the infantry, from PSG, rifleman, rto, MG, sniper, ect. When i say its a shitty job. I truly mean it. We are the bastard children. The ones that everyone is kind of afraid, and think are unruly, weird, stupid. The ones that always get the shit details. But we are also the jack of all trades, Yes we need to know how to close with and engage the enemy. But we also have to be mechanics, engineers, cooks, Intel, Public affairs, fuelers, supply, and more. Everything i Listed at one point or another i have done as a secondary and sometimes primary duty. We dont always get the support we need but that cant stop us from doing our mission. despite the stereotype of the infantryman being a dumb grunt, its quite the opposite. To be successful and to be good, you have to be smart, critically think, and be able to think outside the box.

Expect to be broken. I have screwed up back, hips, feet, knee surgery, and more. you will get broken. There is also not much of a cross over to the civilian world. If i went engineer or admin, ect when i get out i know i have job skills that will immediately transfer. The job skill you get in the infantry (not to include any other non infantry specific schools) is more abstract and hard for civilians to quantify.

What do you get from the infantry? Well the past few paragraphs u hear me shitting on the infantry, im not going to lie to you and i want to be honest so you understand what your getting into. It may be shitty but i absolutely love it. You are a different level then the rest of the army (socom guys aside, and im not shitting on other mos, everyone plays a role). you are better. You are the ones that everyone supports, you are the ones that does the job the army was made for, to engage in combat and kill the enemy. You are part of a brotherhood that is stronger, and tightly woven then any other mos (SF aside). You are part of a tradition and an experience that transcends generations. U talk to a ww2 or vietnam vet who was infantry, there is automatically a understanding, respect and connection that no one else has. when a 42a goes into the VFW and sits next a ww2 vet who was a company clerk, they dont have the same understanding the infantry guys get that sit down next to each other.

you become mentally stronger. you can put up with bullshit and crap and the bad stuff with ease. Things that would make civilians or other MOS fret, is mundane and no big deal to you. Its an adventure and an adrenaline rush. you excrescence things no one else gets to or will understand.

there are plenty of training opportunities and things you can do, but many times you have to look for them and make your own way. I have been to schools ranging form intel, to instructor to counter ied to Personal Security and counter intel, and more. I have done deployments from peace keeping to kynetic operations to Low visibility PSD, to PRT to dignitary protection. There are plenty of opportunities out there, but you have to control your own career

infantry is a fickle mistress, but i love her.

As being a 11B Soldier or in any MOS in the Army your first thought should be "are you physically and mentally capable". After 32 years of being in the military I put my body through things that I never thought I could have imagined. I'm now medically disabled but I can tell you this, I would do it again if asked. Have your body and mind conditioned before you enter your training if not you won't succeed. Listen to the NCO's that are training you, they have the knowledge that you will need to make it through your training. During your career, what ever you decide to do, always strive to do your best. When you get to that level of being a leader, remember one thing, "Take Care of Your Soldiers", without them you will fail. So what ever you decide to do as an 11B, be prepared to put your body through the most rigorous treatment it has ever been seen.

It is very physically intense. Especially the running and leg development. At 19-22 I was so tired at 9:00 p.m. Mon-Fri I struggled to keep my eyes open and not nodding off. Some had higher energy levels and went out on the town.....not sure how they did that but I was in pretty good physical shape. If you drink alchol or eat pizza Sun-Thurs you will feel it on the company run and will see performance degradation. I mention that because the 11B impacts your diet and if your not careful your overweight and flagged. Again others would eat pizza every night but they usually sucked at PT and were on the next to be booted out of the Army list. Next is hours away from post barracks and in the field. Expect to spend 1/3 to 1/2 the year living outside in a sleeping bag in various wilderness areas and having all sorts of wild and insect life run across your bag (does not happen frequently but happens). Also realize when your out in the field you dig your own pit for #2.....no flush toilets. Long periods without showers or laundry, up to 2 full weeks in some cases when your outdoors or on deployment. Yes everyone smells at that point. Weather impacts you in the head because your living outside 24 by 7. So a week full of rain and mud is going to have a mental impact on you. So I am not trying to discourage you at all just being accurate. I think if your strong willed, patient, tolerant of other people and their weird nuances, in fairly good shape, you should do OK. However, don't enlist 11B with the Hollywood image in your head. It is not like what you see on TV. Also the job is in peacetime and wartime 80-85% boredom and repetitiveness and only 15-20% exciting. So having said all that, it was the most rewarding MOS I could have chosen and if I had to live life over again I would pick it again. Though I was 11H TOW not 11B, they are very similar and do the same tasks.

I am a male nurse and having worked in a female dominated field for many years, I always encourage females looking into combat arms to consider how they will do around almost all men. Much of this is what interests us and things we go through in life. Most of my female coworkers dont care about the gridiron and what goes on Sunday and likewise I have never had to do my hair or nails for a ball and worry about the snide comments the other girls will make because my hair style is two years old. My first job in the Army was post partum with all the patients old enough to talk were female and I was the only male staff member. I felt isolated and it was not because they treated me poorly and many are still friends today but not having one of my own to chat with was rough at times.