Don’t Fight Like a Girl: Veteran Preferences Based on Combat Exposure and Gender

Military culture promotes status hierarchy and a hypermasculine paradigm, upholding combat arms, and war heroism to exemplify the ideal soldier, contributing to existing gender disparities. This study utilized an online anonymous survey of U.S. military veterans (N = 25) to examine veterans’ likability related to gender and level of combat exposure using frequencies, descriptives, and Mann–Whitney U tests. Results indicate that veterans prefer combat experienced and male soldiers. Female, noncombat exposed or injured veterans may be more socially isolated than their male counterparts following military service or deployment, illuminating potential barriers to help seeking and service provision with this vulnerable population.