The Pentagon has lifted the ban on women in the US military serving in front line combat. The formal announcement is expected to be made on Thursday. Once that happens, it will be left to the different branches of the military to decide how they will go about incorporating women into ground combat units. Military leaders will be given until 2016 to make an argument for keeping certain positions closed to women. It is a decision that could open up as many as 230,000 combat roles to women, many of which would be in infantry units.
“This is an historic step for equality and for recognizing the role women have, and will continue to play, in the defense of our nation,” said Democratic Senator Patty Murray from the state of Washington.
During the past 11 years of primarily guerilla and “unconventional” war in Afghanistan and Iraq, during which military women have represented about 2% of the casualties, the boundary that defines the frontline has become blurred. The de facto result has been that female US military personnel have pushed further into combat operations than ever before.
The move by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was endorsed by Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “I support it,” Levin said. “It reflects the reality of 21st century military operations.”
