 After the German invasion of the Soviet Union she tried to join the Red Army and after being rejected she continued medical training and learned how to use a gun.After persistently requesting to join the military despite being repeatedly rejected, Mametova was eventually accepted into the Red Army in September 1942 to work as a clerk at an Army headquarters before being sent to work as a nurse in a field hospital despite her request to be assigned to a rifle unit.While working as a nurse she continued her training on the use of a Maxim machine gun.