Where did she learn how to use all manner of guns and melee weaponry?. I'm positive they don't teach that in law school lol.

Since its mentioned she should dust off her law degree its clear she has recently not been working in the justice system, most likely because she too for a time was drafted in the army.

I think it was only the male SS who was in the army and fought in Alaska not the female SS.

My speculation/headcanon? There was a draft or mandatory military education for all citizens, similar to what the USSR had during the real cold war.

I have no idea.

That definitely seems possible considering the US was at war with China and the goverment may have wanted all citizens prepared just incase of a full on invasion.

Yeah this is something that bothered me aswell. Maby 50-60 years from now Spec-Ops training will be required to pass the BAR? Certainly plays that way.

Seriously though, since like Remmus said, it's mentioned by your husband that you dust of your law degree i assume you where conscripted during the war and met your hubby while serving. That's how i make sense of it anyway.

Shame really, i wanted to play a person with no combat experience coping with the wasteland but without skills that's hard to do.

Women where drafted too. Even so the civilian unrest in the country could also mean she could have spent time learning how to use a gun for self defence.

I didn't know the women where drafted to. I thought it was only the men because I don't remember seeing any female soldiers in the anchorage DLC in FO3.

A holotape at arcjet has both a male and female engineer talking about the fear and frustration of being drafted, heck the woman specifically mentions her fear of getting her brains splattered by a enemy bullet.

Nate taught her how to shoot

Oh wow. I guess I need to listen to that tape again lol.

You can probably just fill in the blanks yourself unless there's something definitive in the narrative. I can at least buy the spouse of a highly declorated war vet somehow knowing the basics of weapon handling more so than say.. the Lone Wanderer at the age of 19 going from playing around with a BB gun to using Laser weapons and taking on the Enclave as soon as he exits the vault.

She might have served under the GI Bill or something equivalent while learning the Law Degree. Also maybe the school also had a course for other law enforcement practices. Maybe she served as a JAG officer and got some basic training that way.

I'm an idiot... SS?

And for my two cents, following other cliched storylines, I am willing to bet it is highly possible both personas served. Either by draft or choice. The political and martial climate at the time would certainly suggest a higher percentage of people joining up in the military. Most people (personal experience) prefer to marry or join with someone who has a military background, even if just a military brat or primary family member of someone who served. Civilian sector occupations attached to the military qualify for this.

Front line combatant is not the only position available in the armed forces, and at least one US armed force in the real world believes in giving even non-combatants weapon training. Also, the armed forces are not the only way to get weapons training. So it's not impossible that the female Sole Survivor was in the military, and even if she wasn't, she could have gotten her training through other means.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sole_Survivor

There were women there.

Yup. I'm an idiot. Didn't even think of it.

In USA everyone and their mom and grandma has a gun and knows how to use it is the reason is what I think.

NRA member i guess

Must've been quite the...neighbor. “Nora, here are all the weapons I hauled back from the War and yes, that is a suit of Power Armor in our back lawn. Let's start training!!”

My character enlisted in the war and then used the GI Bill to earn her degree.

Lol. Thought the same thing but about modifying them and having architect skills as well, though maybe that's why the building system is janky XD.

All the east coast architects were trapped at a conference about the use of adobe in California when the bombs hit.