“It’s not the living conditions, it’s not the mission, it’s this,” she said, gesturing toward a memorial display of boots, rifles and dog tags belonging to the dead Marines. She was, she said quietly, “too much of a girl to deal with these guys getting killed.”

There have been many other strains as well, not least some male officers who question the female Marines’ purpose and young infantrymen who remain resentful of the attention from commanders and the news media that the women have received. Stress, rough conditions and patrols in 100-plus-degree heat have caused almost all of the female Marines, like their male counterparts, to lose weight in Afghanistan, some nearly 20 pounds. A number of the women have seen their marriages end or their boyfriends leave them.

“It was starting ahead of time, but this definitely didn’t help the marriage,” said Lance Cpl. Sorina Langer, 21, who was divorced during her deployment in one of the most dangerous areas of Marja. “He saw it as walking out.”

For Capt. Emily Naslund, 27, the women’s commander, the sacrifices and the frustrations have been worth it. As a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and a state champion runner in high school, she is the kind of alpha female, athletic and competitive, who seeks out the Marine Corps as the ultimate proving ground. But she readily says that she has relied on daily prayers  she is the daughter of a Minnesota stockbroker and a flight attendant who went to church every Sunday  and faith in God to get her through. Out on foot patrols, she said, “my life’s in his hands.”

She offered no assessment of the long, grinding war, other than to call it “slow,” and to say she tried not to pay attention to critics of the war at home. She was enthusiastic, though, about her small piece within the war. “This is going to be the highlight of my life,” she said.

As she explained it, “You’ve got 19- and 20-year-olds walking around in the world’s most dangerous place, knowing what could happen to them, and they’re willing to do that anyway, and they’re willing to do that with passion.”

All in a Day’s Work

The September night was unusually cold when Captain Naslund’s alarm rang through the stillness. “It’s 3:15, guys,” she said softly to Lance Corporal Robertson and Cpl. Christina Oliver, 25.