Women Will Be Allowed To Fill Combat Positions In Military

Starting next year, all military combat jobs will be open to women after an announcement made by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. “Carter stated in that so long as they meet standards “They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars, and direct infantry soldiers in to combat”.

Absent from Carter’s announcement was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who recommended that Marine infantry remain closed to women while serving as Marine commandant.

Gen Dunford did not attend the news conference to announce the change, and when asked about that absence, Mr Carter said he has discussed his decision multiple times with the chairman. Carter said he came to a different conclusion, but he said the integration of women into the combat jobs will be deliberate and methodical and will address the Marine Corps concerns.

Over the years, in particular during the last seven years of Obama Administration, armed forces were gradually opened up for women.

NPR notes that the formal process to open combat positions was initially put into place in early 2013, but there has been resistance to including women in certain branches of the armed forces.

The policy change will open up roughly 220,000 jobs and 10 percent of military specialties that have been closed to women.

Pentagon chief Ash Carter is expected to announce that women can now serve in frontline combat posts.

The landmark decision is almost three years in the making. The Marine Corps was the only service that objected, citing a study that found all-male infantry units performed better than mixed-gender infantry units. Mabus and Air Force Secretary Deborah James have generally shown support for opening all jobs to women who can meet the same standards as men, while senior Army officials have not disclosed their recommendations. Mr Carter said that while many women were not physically strong enough to join, neither were many men.

“That’s why we have the finest fighting force the world has ever known”, he added, “and it’s one other way we will strive to ensure that the force of the future remains so, long into the future”.

“However, women make up more than half of the nation’s population and should be given an equitable chance to serve in all military combat roles…”

Then US Army First Lieutenant Kirsten Griest (C) and fellow soldiers participate in combatives training during the Ranger Course on Fort Benning, Georgia, in this handout photograph taken on April 20, 2015 and obtained on August 20, 2015.