12:15 p.m. | Updated
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has decided to lift the military’s ban on women in combat, a groundbreaking decision that overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such roles.
As Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker of The Times report, the move means that hundreds of thousands of frontline jobs will now be open to women. Yet women have long been serving in combat, just not officially.
“I respect and support Secretary Panetta’s decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat,” Senator John McCain said in a statement. “The fact is that American women are already serving in harm’s way today all over the world and in every branch of our armed forces. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice, and our nation owes them a deep debt of gratitude.”
Carey Lohrenz, a former Navy lieutenant, told NPR: “People are trying to make it an argument about whether or not women should be in combat. But women are in combat, and they’ve always been in combat, since the American Revolutionary War – the entire history of our country.”
Representative Niki Tsongas, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Panetta’s announcement would “finally acknowledge the reality of the current nature of war, where the lines between combat and support personnel are not clearly drawn.”
Hundreds of thousands of women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them in combat. As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died.
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Related Coverage
Pentagon Lifts Ban on Women Serving in Combat Roles
Marines Moving Women Toward the Front Lines
Women at Arms: How the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Have Profoundly Redefined the Role of Women
At War Blog: Women Have Long Served in Combat Roles
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At War Blog: Women Have Long Served in Combat Roles
