Women in infantry

[noneyabeeswax]

I'm looking for female experience in infantry. PLEASE. I signed up for infantry but I'm starting to have second thoughts. I'm fit, capable and have a strong personality but I'm wondering If I'm biting off more than I can chew. I read about women in infantry on reddit(caf) and the stories there were horrendous albeit it's a few years ago, I can't shake it off; there was a story of a girl in her troop where men were putting eggs in her shoes, messing with her bunk space and knocking at the washroom door while she was trying to use the washroom. This happened in 2014 so its not very far off and has me really worried. I'm 27, have LE experience so can handle people and I don't get offended easily but I don't want to deal with immature highschool shit, specially when all I'm wanting is to serve my country and get deployed. I'm really worried about instances like that happening and not having any support from the force if I choose to go with a report. I've also read that infantry has the least amount of transferrable skills as well so I'm starting to doubt infantry and want real experience from women! Any insight, men or women, is appreciated!

 

[daftandbarmy]

I'm looking for female experience in infantry. PLEASE. I signed up for infantry but I'm starting to have second thoughts. I'm fit, capable and have a strong personality but I'm wondering If I'm biting off more than I can chew. I read about women in infantry on reddit(caf) and the stories there were horrendous albeit it's a few years ago, I can't shake it off; there was a story of a girl in her troop where men were putting eggs in her shoes, messing with her bunk space and knocking at the washroom door while she was trying to use the washroom. This happened in 2014 so its not very far off and has me really worried. I'm 27, have LE experience so can handle people and I don't get offended easily but I don't want to deal with immature highschool shit, specially when all I'm wanting is to serve my country and get deployed. I'm really worried about instances like that happening and not having any support from the force if I choose to go with a report. I've also read that infantry has the least amount of transferrable skills as well so I'm starting to doubt infantry and want real experience from women! Any insight, men or women, is appreciated!

FWIW, I've seen several female Officers and NCMs serving in the Infantry who were excellent.

Sadly, they were too smart to stick around and moved on to bigger and better things such as careers in medicine and physiotherapy. One of them was even a particle physicist, but I'm pretty sure she didn't pick that up from us

My guess is that, these days, alot of the BS has been ironed out of the training system. The fact that you're older than alot of the other recruits can only help you too, IMHO.

Suffice it to say I think the Infantry is awesome, with alot of opportunities to do a wide variety of interesting things, and the females I've seen serving in the Infantry have done just fine.

 

[Rifleman62]

Go on YouTube and view female Infantry in other countries. Some are conscripts (National Service) such as Findland and Israel.

 

[Underway]

I'm looking for female experience in infantry. PLEASE. I signed up for infantry but I'm starting to have second thoughts. I'm fit, capable and have a strong personality but I'm wondering If I'm biting off more than I can chew. I read about women in infantry on reddit(caf) and the stories there were horrendous albeit it's a few years ago, I can't shake it off; there was a story of a girl in her troop where men were putting eggs in her shoes, messing with her bunk space and knocking at the washroom door while she was trying to use the washroom. This happened in 2014 so its not very far off and has me really worried. I'm 27, have LE experience so can handle people and I don't get offended easily but I don't want to deal with immature highschool shit, specially when all I'm wanting is to serve my country and get deployed. I'm really worried about instances like that happening and not having any support from the force if I choose to go with a report. I've also read that infantry has the least amount of transferrable skills as well so I'm starting to doubt infantry and want real experience from women! Any insight, men or women, is appreciated!

Being as I'm navy and also not a woman, I've passed these questions to the women at my work who are infantry NCM's. I'll try to get you a well thought out response that directly answers your concerns. Might be next week before I can respond. I'll also likely send you the info by direct msg.

Few questions however.

1. Are you thinking about full time or part time (Regular Force or Reserve)?
2. What attracts you to the infantry? aka Why infantry?
3. There are 104ish different jobs in the military. Plenty of different ways to serve your country and get a deployment. Have you considered a different trade or element (airforce/navy/support branches)? There is the right job for you in the CAF, I have no doubt. There is no shame in saying that infantry is not for you should you want to go that way.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I don’t think we have a problem with female infanteers. Canada hashed that out over a fair length of time some years ago. Some males and females will never excel in the infantry while many more do. We have had a number of female combat arms members that have excelled and have been promoted in their trades, including infantry. Many have had theater experience. If you want infantry, go infantry.

 

[noneyabeeswax]

Being as I'm navy and also not a woman, I've passed these questions to the women at my work who are infantry NCM's. I'll try to get you a well thought out response that directly answers your concerns. Might be next week before I can respond. I'll also likely send you the info by direct msg.

Few questions however.

1. Are you thinking about full time or part time (Regular Force or Reserve)?
2. What attracts you to the infantry? aka Why infantry?
3. There are 104ish different jobs in the military. Plenty of different ways to serve your country and get a deployment. Have you considered a different trade or element (airforce/navy/support branches)? There is the right job for you in the CAF, I have no doubt. There is no shame in saying that infantry is not for you should you want to go that way.

Hey thanks so much! I appreciate that.

1. I signed up for reserve as im in my last stretch of school but the more info that I get from my recruiter, I'm kinda thinking of doing it full time too
2. Honestly, probably a shit answer haha but I like being challenged, boots on the ground, being physically active and this seems to be the way? My recruiter also seems to kinda push it on me so he's giving me quite a bit of gas to keep going for infantry. I did the medical last week and he showed me the gear and while I was nervous thinking about packing more than half of my weight, I'm confident I can do it.
3. Thank you for this. Your comment made me look at the other jobs. I seriously want firearms technician but the closes one to me is more than 2 hrs away and my recruiter said he'll ask whoevers charge but they will probably say no so infantry is my best bet.

Thanks again, Underway!

 

[FJAG]

If you are looking at work in the field and other branches, you might want to look at the artillery. They've had women for decades and quite a few, especially at the officer level, are Afghanistan vets who are serving at the colonel and now brigadier-general rank level. There are quite a few opportunities with reserve force units across the country.

 

[Underway]

Hey thanks so much! I appreciate that.

1. I signed up for reserve as im in my last stretch of school but the more info that I get from my recruiter, I'm kinda thinking of doing it full time too
2. Honestly, probably a shit answer haha but I like being challenged, boots on the ground, being physically active and this seems to be the way? My recruiter also seems to kinda push it on me so he's giving me quite a bit of gas to keep going for infantry. I did the medical last week and he showed me the gear and while I was nervous thinking about packing more than half of my weight, I'm confident I can do it.
3. Thank you for this. Your comment made me look at the other jobs. I seriously want firearms technician but the closes one to me is more than 2 hrs away and my recruiter said he'll ask whoevers charge but they will probably say no so infantry is my best bet.

Thanks again, Underway!

For full time service weapons tech is a great job. Also take a look at ammunition tech. @AmmoTech90 could probably answer some questions on that one if you DM them here.

If your doing the PRes infantry is tough on everyone. As all your training is packed into weekends and short courses. Best of luck!

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . . but I don't want to deal with immature highschool shit . . .

There'll possibly be "immature highschool shit" regardless of the trade that you select. Not as much as when combat arms opened for women, or back in the days of dinosaurs when I served, when women were first posted to field units. But in any predominantly male, hierarchial organization/occupation that recruits young and attempts to develop/select leaders from within the organization, inappropriate behaviour on the part of the immature (regardless of how long ago they left high school) is almost a rite of passage. Thankfully, organizational acceptance of such behaviour has mostly passed and there are processes in place to not only report and correct individuals who transgress regulations, but also to educate the stupid. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts to mitigate their presence in society, we'll always have the stupid wherever we go.

 

[Remius]

Hey thanks so much! I appreciate that.

1. I signed up for reserve as im in my last stretch of school but the more info that I get from my recruiter, I'm kinda thinking of doing it full time too
2. Honestly, probably a shit answer haha but I like being challenged, boots on the ground, being physically active and this seems to be the way? My recruiter also seems to kinda push it on me so he's giving me quite a bit of gas to keep going for infantry. I did the medical last week and he showed me the gear and while I was nervous thinking about packing more than half of my weight, I'm confident I can do it.
3. Thank you for this. Your comment made me look at the other jobs. I seriously want firearms technician but the closes one to me is more than 2 hrs away and my recruiter said he'll ask whoevers charge but they will probably say no so infantry is my best bet.

Thanks again, Underway!

Trying the reserves first is a great gateway to going reg force in any trade.

I have several women in my infantry unit and they are just as good as anyone else. One in particular I would consider a top soldier and is an amazing leader.

 

[GK .Dundas]

By the way, if no one has said it yet. Welcome to the family.