What is your advice for Females joining the ranks of the combat jobs in the Military?

My advice is to be resilient support the other females that are going through the course. Most of all watch the guys, for they will use you femininity against you.Stay focused, stay on point and guard your assets. If you have to cry of which you will, go to a corner or alone and let it out . The more you are told you can not this will be when you will be more determined to succeed.

Know what the real mission entails. Do not watch movies for your research. Find someone who has combat experience in a real line company. This does not include supply, mechanized units ect., but only those whose primary job was/is to put a pack on their back and march. Look at the study the Marine Corps did on combat related jobs that was provided to the DOD and congress which showed the impact combat related jobs have on the body male and female. Ensure your expectations are realistic.

Do your best... Stay focused...maintain situational awareness at all times.

There is no gender affiliation with the title Soldier. Best advice I could give is achieve what you set out to be. If you want to be infantry, be the best at it you can be and don't let anything stand in your way!

Do your job. Strive toward excellence in all areas, physical, technical, tactical, and personal. You'll be judged by your peers and superiors. Prove their doubts wrong. Put the team first, always. Ask for help if you need it. Offer help without being asked. Never quit. Many of your peers will expect you to quit when things get tough. Let them quit before you do and then pick them up without judgment. Don't ask for special accommodations, don't seek special favors. Be part of the team, hang out with the guys, not just the other females. Don't make excuses. Accept responsibility for your failures (there will be some), and give credit to your teammates for successes. Once you are accepted, you'll be treated like everyone else. Will the judgment you face be fair? No, but then life is not fair. Remember, you are walking point for all the female combat arms soldiers who follow you. Don't lead them into an ambush.

DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT expect "special treatment" PERIOD!!!! If you can't hack it change career fields this is a mostly male (NOT FEMALE) position you want in then learn to fit in that's it!

Tell them, it'll do one of two things. Make them, or break them. If they can't, or aren't willing to lug a 150lbs pack, 50lbs worth of ammo, a 25 lbs weapon, and still be able to lug a 200 lbs soldier (in my case Marine), then don't do it. Otherwise, best of luck.

Hit the gym. Pushups, Situps, Pullups, moving lunges. Weight training. Start hiking with a weighted pack.

I would advise to be prepared for stress fractures. When I was a TAC officer at OCS at Fort Benning the vast majority of injuries suffered by female candidates were from stress fractures in the legs and pelvic regions incurred from runs and road marches. As I recall stress fractures were one of the major reasons for female candidates to fail the course and if I recall correctly the continuing complications from stress fractures were a contributing factor in causing female officers to leave service earlier than their male counterparts. Twelve and sixteen mile timed road marches with full combat loads and five mile runs in under 40 minutes as a unit (I can recall the company running as a thundering heard on the streets at Fort Benning) can produce devastating and long lasting (permanent)injuries. I recall on numerous occasions with the five classes I was a TAC with the company marching in formation to Building 4 and trailing the main formation was a smaller formation of female candidates limping along suffering from stress fractures. So my advice would be if the standards as they are remain in place and are observed, be prepared for stress fractures which can be so severe as to cripple one's career.

My advice, like so many others here, is for these young women to concentrate on the job at hand and be "team" minded.
I have more advice for the NCOIC's. It is your job to develop each soldier into a team player and an asset. Do your job and they will do theirs. I speak from experience having been in charge of a Navy squadron Avionics Division with 40% female techs. I knew the composition and the prejudices the women had been dealing with before I took charge. My first act as SCPOIC (Senior Chief Petty Officer In charge) was to assemble the supervisors and all the women in my office and tell them the days of the women doing 120% to get the same evaluations as the men were over. I explained that we were there to keep the aircraft flying, maybe more but certainly nothing less and that's all I cared about. Anything that got in the way of that goal was going to be dealt with. During my three year tour there the young women did an exceptional job. Perhaps they had to accomplish a job task a little differently than some of the men such as installing a 100 lb generator on an aircraft engine but they got the job done. And after the guys got over the "women don't belong in aircraft maintenance attitude" that had been instilled in them by their previous supervisors we had a division second to none.