All US military roles open to women: defense chief

In a historic press conference today, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that all combat roles will now be open to women.

About 111,000 combat positions have opened up to women since the ban was lifted, Carter said.

Carter is expected to announce his decision on how to more fully integrate women in the USA military this afternoon, ending a three-year period of research that included a number of firsts for female service members and bitter debate at times.

The military has until January to submit plans to make the historic change.

“We know that all men and women serve in the United States military”, Smith said.

Carter acknowledged that the changes “won’t happen overnight”, and that there are still “challenges to overcome”, but it’s a groundbreaking move nonetheless.

Carter has hinted at this decision for months, telling USA troops in Sicily in October that limiting his search for qualified military candidates to just half the population would be “crazy”.

He noted the work done by women in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford argued that women should be barred from certain front-line combat jobs and presented studies that he says show that a mixed-gender unit isn’t as capable as an all-male unit.

He said that decisions about tasks and jobs throughout the armed forces will be made on ability not gender, that equal opportunity will not necessarily mean equal participation, that physical abilities will be taken into account for certain jobs and that worldwide realities will also have to be considered regarding certain missions. “They’ll be able to serve as army rangers in green berets, navy seals, infantry, air force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men”. Military services have until April 1 to accommodate women in all roles. They had been barred from applying for service with the 75th Ranger Regiment under existing rules, but Carter said the three would now be eligible.

Carter said that top leaders in the Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command all recommended that all jobs be opened to women.

But Dunford “was not comfortable” sharing the stage to explain his disagreement or serve as a “potted plant”, so he opted out – without Carter’s objection, a senior Obama administration official told CNN. “Instead, every Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine should be judged on individual merit and ability”.