Caught up in the adventure and tradition of Cossack women following their men to the front, she became a child soldier in the Russian army at age 14.

[1] Yurlova originally worked as a groom in Armenia; She was mentored and protected by a sergeant in the army of the Causcasus named Kosel, who procured a uniform for Marina and made her a sort of mascot for his unit.

[5][7] She was treated at the Red Cross hospital in Baku and then returned to the Eastern Front, where she trained as an auto mechanic and became a military driver.

[5] After her release, she again joined the Russian forces under the command of Captain Vladimir Kappel, and was shot through the shoulder by Bolsheviks while on patrol.

Led by a contingent of Russian officers, along with party of about 100 Royalists (both men and women) she walked through Siberia for a month, eventually reaching the American hospital in Vladivostok.