Looking for moms & dads of FEMALE ROTC cadets or cadets themselves (past, present, future)

Capt MJ said:
Bunhead bun pins, XL, choose color to match hair, by Capezio, from Capezio online or Amazon. There is a trick to putting in bun pins for max hold. Do not put them straight into bun at base. Stand on end in a 90 degree angle to base of bun, inserted inside some outer strands of hair. Push in toward scalp (no need to puncture scalp!), “turn the corner” and slide slightly upward and into bun.

And, there are endless YouTube videos. Search “military women’s bun” and “military sock bun.”

Posted by someone who can still put hair in a regulation bun in about 20 seconds, from comb to twist to buns to pins.
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Some skills are ALWAYS useful. 😎
 
I'm not a woman, but I would HIGHLY suggest when you narrow it down between two schools when your daughter gets the scholarship... ask to shadow/talk to a female MIDN/cadet at the unit. From what I've heard from a wide array of schools, women had really different experiences at different units depending on the culture, etc.
 
Female INJURIES AT SAs

My DD chose AFROTC over our amazing SAs. One huge reason was the risk of injury to women at SAs. Yes, men get hurt too. But I think some of the tough guy physical challenges at SAs are not calibrated correctly for women. This causes a higher proportion of injuries, some which will DQ you from commissioning.


Wish I had stats for this. And I hope I'm wrong or this will change soon.

But I think it's obvious that theres far far less injury in ROTCs than SAs. It's a factor you have to decide how much weight to give it .
 
MA Homeschool Dad said:
Female INJURIES AT SAs

My DD chose AFROTC over our amazing SAs. One huge reason was the risk of injury to women at SAs. Yes, men get hurt too. But I think some of the tough guy physical challenges at SAs are not calibrated correctly for women. This causes a higher proportion of injuries, some which will DQ you from commissioning.


Wish I had stats for this. And I hope I'm wrong or this will change soon.

But I think it's obvious that theres far far less injury in ROTCs than SAs. It's a factor you have to decide how much weight to give it .
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As you say, you have no stats to support your supposition. There is statistical evidence that women suffer anterior cruciate ligament injuries at a higher rate than men across the board, however the vast majority of those injuries occur during sports such as soccer, basketball etc, rather than in military training evolutions at the Academy. However, other than that specific area of injury there does not appear to be a significant difference in the injury rate of male midshipmen and female midshipmen overall.

I would hazard to say that for all midshipmen, regardless of gender, the incidence of injury occurs because of their involvement in intercollegiate and high level club sports, not simply as a result of their enrollment as a mid. Accordingly the overall incidence of injury to midshipmen will be higher than at ROTC because the percentage of midshipmen that participate in sports is vastly higher than the percentage of ROTC attendees at a regular college or university.

Regardless, the number of midshipmen male or female that are disenrolled due to physical injury sustained as a result of their engagement in sports or military training at the Academies is relatively insignificant. I asked DD1 about this and her position was that more were injured due to extracurricular recreational activity while on leave.

All that being said candidates should choose the programs that they feel will be the best fit for them overall and I'm certainly not denigrating the value of ROTC enrollment and the grit of those who choose that path.

Best of luck to your DD.
 
My sister is a sophomore in an AROTC program at a top tier school. The program is small with very few girls. It took some time to be accepted, but after graduating from the Air Assault school as a MS1 she was considered a "bro".
We are not a military family and her training before joining the program was probably not adequate. She was always athletic and practiced high school sports at a state level, but not a D1 athlete.
Sometimes she has to stand her ground for her training especially for the upper body strength. Most cadre focus on reaching a certain physical training level fast. The truth is that boys can reach it faster.
She is not very tall, but she is a long distance runner, which helped, cause on the AirAssault faster paced rucks she had to run them, while 6 foot guys walked/jogged them.
She never managed to do the bun thing in 20 sec. It was pretty time consuming, so she went for the short hair version.
Good luck to your DD.
 
ASMD said:
My sister is a sophomore in an AROTC program at a top tier school. The program is small with very few girls. It took some time to be accepted, but after graduating from the Air Assault school as a MS1 she was considered a "bro".
We are not a military family and her training before joining the program was probably not adequate. She was always athletic and practiced high school sports at a state level, but not a D1 athlete.
Sometimes she has to stand her ground for her training especially for the upper body strength. Most cadre focus on reaching a certain physical training level fast. The truth is that boys can reach it faster.
She is not very tall, but she is a long distance runner, which helped, cause on the AirAssault faster paced rucks she had to run them, while 6 foot guys walked/jogged them.
She never managed to do the bun thing in 20 sec. It was pretty time consuming, so she went for the short hair version.
Good luck to your DD.
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IM me with contact info. I have contacts with a plethora of female Army ROTC cadets who are rockin' it at different schools and might be able to assist.
 
interestinrotc said:
Would love any and all insight or advice you have as we navigate daughter's plans for ROTC (she's 2024, so hitting campus Fall of 24). Not a sexist, just curious to hear specifics on the female experience.
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Last freshman class st my son's school had more girls than boys in afrotc. All scholarship recipients very smart. 2 just went cyber warfare that are graduating this year. Colonel in charge of Cadre is a woman too. Seems 50/50 to me. Past 2 colonial scholarships have been women too. AF seems to be the most woman friendly, but Army might be best for pre med
 
My NROTC unit at one point while I was a student there had more women than men in it. In my graduating class, the girls outnumbered the guys 2 to 1
 
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