US Military opens all combat roles to women

Votel said that integrating women into certain jobs in recent years, including as Night Stalkers and in cultural supports teams in Afghanistan, benefited the force. In a survey disclosed early previous year, the Army found that less than 8 percent of women soldiers said they’d like to move into one of the combat posts.

The Obama administration announced in 2013 its willingness to open all combat roles to women, but the Pentagon had received a deadline to decide whether any exceptions would be retained.

He said President Obama has not conveyed his views on the subject to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

Speaking at Pentagon press conference, Defence Secretary Ash Carter said “women will now be able to contribute to our missions in ways they could not before”. It also opens the Marine Corps infantry, a battle-hardened force that many service officials had openly advocated keeping closed to female service members. Along with the Army, Navy, Air Force, and United States Special Operation Command, the Marine Corps is required to open all combat roles to women by April 1, 2016.

His announcement was a flat rejection of Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Joseph Dunford’s previous remarks which argued that the U.S. Marines should be allowed to keep women out of certain front-line combat jobs, citing studies showing that mixed-gender units would be less capable as all-male units.

Those combat restrictions, of course, no longer exist, raising the question whether the military is in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment, which Rostker v. Goldberg addressed.

Judy Patterson, the Head of the Service Women’s Action Network, said the policy was a momentous decision in the history of the military.

While Secretary Carter said he’ll direct all branches to comply starting 30 days from Thursday, U.S. Army Alaska said it could take at least several months before women are assigned to those roles.

Others however were more cautious, with the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees pledging to review the decision. The law has been challenged previously, with the Supreme Court reversing the ruling of a lower court in 1981 in Rostker v. Goldberg with the high court saying that the Selective Service System could stand as it was because women were not allowed to join combat units.

The military had gradually been opening many of those positions to women, including allowing them to serve on Navy submarines and in Army infantry units.