Pentagon Opens All Combat Jobs To Women

Carter’s order opens the final 10 percent of military positions to women, and allows them to serve in the military’s most demanding and hard jobs, including as special operations forces, such as the Army Delta units and Navy SEALs.

The Pentagon’s decision comes after almost five years of extensive review.

Echoing Carter’s remarks earlier Thursday, Obama expressed confidence both Dunford and he would “implement this transition – as they have others – in a responsible manner that maintains military readiness and the unparalleled professionalism and strength of our armed forces”.

Women will now be allowed to serve in about 220 000 positions that had remained closed to them, including infantry, armour, reconnaissance and special operations, he said.

He added that as long as they were qualified and meet the standards, women would now be able to contribute to the United States mission in ways they could not before.

Carter said that there will be “no exceptions” – all combat roles will be open to women 30 days from now, “as long as they qualify” and meet the same rigorous physical and training standards as men. Women will be able to drive tanks, fire mortars, lead infantry soldiers into combat, and serve as Green Berets. In January 2013, the defense secretary at the time, Leon Panetta, announced that he was rescinding a longtime ban on women serving directly in ground combat units, but gave the services until this fall to research the issue.

The historic step trumps a Marine Corps call for a partial exemption after it claimed mixed-gender combat units were not as effective as male groups. The restriction was “seen as increasingly out of place during a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan in which women were increasingly in harm’s way”, Reuters notes. The decision to welcome women in all military roles will “make sure our military remains the finest fighting force in the history of the world”.

“Going forward, we shouldn’t be surprised if these small numbers are also reflected in areas like recruitment, voluntary assignment, retention”, he said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona and head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Congress will review the data and the decision.

Some of the most high-profile evaluations were carried out by the Army that, for the first time, allowed women to try out for the elite Ranger School.

“Our force of the future must continue to benefit from the best America has to offer”, Carter told reporters.

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The Marines were isolated in this application, other branches including the Army did not make such requests, he notably said.