The literature supports the notion that, due to biomechanical and physical fitness differences, men and women have different risks of musculoskeletal disorders, traumatic injury, and attrition as a function of basic military training. In addition, these differences can impact the path to optimal fitness. Therefore, male and female training protocols should ideally be tailored differently. Female recruits have lower average levels of physical fitness and conditioning, at the initiation of basic training, than male recruits. However, it is currently unclear whether the higher risk of injury during basic training observed in women is entirely a function of their lower (on average) physical fitness, or whether it is also partly driven by the other numerous musculoskeletal, biomechanical, and neuromuscular differences between women and men. It is therefore unknown whether tailoring the demands of basic training to an individual’s fitness level (as per Recommendation 4-3) will fully address the problem of the higher risks of injury and attrition observed in female recruits.