What about going to college with ROTC and joining after college, as an officer? She’d have a lot more clout as an officer, more of a chance to make decisions instead of being a grunt, and she might have more personal safety. (I hate to bring it up but you know that rape is an issue in the military now.) She’d also be a bit older and possibly better able to fend for herself.
I got a nephew that just graduated Penn State through ROTC Air Force, got his commission as an officer a few months ago.
Due to cuts to active personnel, he is being told that he most likely will not get a spot to serve.
Kid is an engineer to boot and is now as a result of that news is headed to either Wharton or Harvard for an MBA.
Of course if he was an Indonesian communist homosexual the Air Force would probably have given him command of a fighter squadron.