I agree 100%. I just don't think those two women you're citing is a good way to prove our point. Every time it's brought up in any thread it just devolves into an argument that goes in circles because no one can prove it one way or another.

Given the weight of evidence suggesting a connection to the navy and not the army, my money is still on him being in the Marine Corps. This also ties in with the release date, which is the Marine Corps birthday. As for power armor training, we don't currently know if a female protagonist would have had training, although she could also have a military background (possibly US Navy in legal services or a consulting role) The only concrete lead we have at the moment on this is the certificate shown http://i.imgur.com/mSXW7Lz.png. It would make sense, however, that at some point we will be using power armor whoever we play as, and so the possibility still exists of power armor training in-game.

EDIT: added link to certificate and info pertaining to release date.

A part of me sort of wants the female protagonist to be a housewife, just so they can use that line from Star Trek TNG when they find cryogenically frozen people: "Homemaker? I guess she was in the construction industry". However, it could be that both are veterans (given how young the child is, and presumably both know how to use power armour, unless a female protagonist will get a unique and early power armour quest).

Oooooh really? Fascinating. I thought Bethesda would go with slightly different yet largely functionally equivalent backgrounds.

Assuming that Power Armor doesn't require a perk to use this time, I'm RPing it this way:

He was a power-armored heavy infantryman in the Anchorage campaign.

She was a power armor technician for his company.

They fancied each other during service, then got their discharge papers and shacked up.

That way, they both have at least Basic, and both know how to move about in power armor (him obviously for fighting, and she would need to take them out for a spin for readiness assessment and problem diagnosis)

Just out of curiosity if you come across info in the game that directly contradicts your headcanon do you just ignore it? Or is this just like an interim headcanon?

Interim.

Something along these lines could actually work.

EDIT: the certificate is really hard to read, perhaps it is actually to do with engineering, which would fit very nicely with your idea.

http://i.imgur.com/mSXW7Lz.png for the 'law' certificate if anyone's interested.

Cool, couldn't remember where I saw this originally. So we know one of them went to law school, and our guy is most likely a marine. But do you think his wife could still perhaps have been an engineer or technician as has been suggested? It would certainly give then both a more useful skill-set for the wastelands.

Dunno really. Did we have a background that fit Wasteland survival in FO3? Not really. We did in New Vegas. Dunno about the earlier ones. I'm sure they could just throw in a "hubby took me to the shooting range on Saturdays" line to explain basic weapon proficiency if you're playing with a female character. Power armor? Eh. But! That'd hardly be the end of the world either right? Presumably if you're at a stage where power armor is available you'd be close to someone who was familiar with it right? So a male would just say "Nah we learned this in the marines" and the female would get a quick fade-to-black sequence.

Wow. How do people find these things.

So we have a vet and a person with a Law degree, though technically it could be the same person and the other is just a housewife ... or househusband ... or whatever.

Well, with my interim headcanon, a law degree for Him would be a far more useful skill set in a civilian environment than "soldiering in a bulky stompy metal suit". Though, that could have been Construction if exoframes are available yet for such a purpose. Technician skills for Her would translate more easily in being civilly applicable.

And a lot of the housewife-ey skills and tasks would in all likelihood be handled by Codsworth.

Well that and just being a vet isn't exactly a career. Need something to do in civi life.

Like I mentioned elsewhere, pretty sure the PC has the exact same backstory regardless of gender, since they're pretty much the same character.

This wouldn't be the case due to the comment made by the woman during the tutorial. She says, "You're gonna knock em dead at the veteran's hall tonight hun", suggesting that is her husband who is due to give the speech, and is therefore the guest of honor at the Veteran's Hall. Based on this and certain other clues, I have a strong feeling that each would have a slightly different take on events which would make for some cool replay value.

EDIT: she actually makes this comment before we have selected which of the two we are going to play as.

The wife could, if she's involved with the military by means other than through her husband, be a military lawyer.

I dont think there is really any evidence of what branch the protagonist was in, we have the veteran comment and the flag which could be a flag presented to the protagonist upon military retirement.

The navy theory does make me think of that wrecked submarine with the settlement on top from the trailer.

There are lots of little clues that suggest navy, and a lot of these actually imply an overall naval theme throughout the game. We have the pictures and the flag in the player's home, Charlestown Navy Yard (near the airport), the USS Constitution, the submarine, several shipwrecks, boat yards, lots of coastal scenes, as well as the design of vault 111. It has even been suggested that the name of our protagonist's wife (Nora) could be a direct reference to the USS Eleanor. There are not, however, any obvious clues that would suggest the army, and so navy does seem more likely. My personal guess is that he was either directly with the navy (possibly on a sub), or he was in the marine corps.

True, but when you switch to her in the CC she says it's her turn to use the mirror, meaning she's preparing to go there too. They could be both going for the same reason (ie. both being combat veterans or whatever) and her complimenting him would still make sense.

Some might just interpreted it as her going to be his support. Y'know, for emotional morale and stuff.

It could also be that whomever you play as is a veteran who currently has a job as a lawyer. Would explain the nice house.

The game is being released on the Marine Corps Birthday .Take that for what it is worth.

Navy.... Marines.... Same diff..
We used to give Marines that were vocal about their hatred of the Navy a hard time, as their paychecks (This was before DDS was mandatory) were written by the Department of the Navy.

They could yes, and that would make sense too. Multiple interpretations being valid is a good thing