A single mother soldier who won a claim of race and sex discrimination against the Ministry of Defence was awarded £17,016 by an employment tribunal.
Tilern DeBique, 28, from Tooting, south London, who was reported to have been seeking £1 million, argued that she was expected to be available for duty "24/7, 365 days a year".
Panel chairman Jeremy Gordon said the former corporal, from the Caribbean island of St Vincent, was not treated "on a level playing field" with other soldiers.
An earlier hearing at the Central London Employment Tribunal was told that Ms DeBique was disciplined by the Army after missing a military parade to care for her daughter.
The panel heard she was told by a senior officer that the British Army was "a war-fighting machine unsuitable for a single mother who couldn't sort out her childcare arrangements".
She left the Army in April 2008, after submitting her resignation a year earlier.
Mr Gordon said the fact that immigration rules prevented her half-sister from moving to the UK permanently to help with childcare was discriminatory.
Ms DeBique had to see a psychiatrist at one point and was prescribed anti-depressants, the hearing was told.
But he criticised her for refusing a posting to her regiment's base in Blandford, Dorset, saying it was "a mistake".
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We have noted the award made by the employment tribunal and we wish Tilern DeBique the best for the future."
