“I didn’t lose my legs in a bar fight”, said Tammy Duckworth, one of the first Army women to fly combat missions during the Iraq War, after the Pentagon announced Thursday that it would open all combat roles in every branch of the USA armed forces to women starting on January 1.
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Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Thursday that women can now serve in combat posts in the US military.
Ashton Carter, US Defence Secretary, on Friday in Washington, said the military would open all combat jobs to women, not minding the objections by the Marine Corps. “No exceptions was the recommendation of the secretary of the Army, the secretary of the Air Force, and the secretary of the Navy, as well as the chief of staff of the Army, chief of staff of the Air Force, chief of Naval operations, and the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command”. The Marine Corps recommended that certain jobs such as machine gunner be kept closed, but the secretary said that the military is a joint force, and his decision will apply to all services.
“I served several exercises with these gals from the Israeli army and German army and they had the job nailed down”.
“All qualified service members – regardless of their gender – will be allowed to compete for all combat jobs in 2016″.
I was brought up with the old adage about first taking care of all women and children, and I believe it’s our mandate as men. They represented almost 2 percent of US military casualties there. Until now, women have been restricted from serving in combat positions below brigade level due mainly to the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule. “This is also important-those who have actually seen women troops serving alongside men know what women can do”.
Women already serve in combat roles for the armed forces of a few developed nations, including Canada and Israel, but officials have said demand from women for such jobs in most North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries is very low. Christian Devine, said in a statement that the corps will begin immediately to implement the change, but will maintain the standards of the force while also working to “optimize individual performance”.
“Women are just as proud and honorable to serve in the Marine Corps as the men, you know”, Wyckoff said. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said it would “strengthen our armed forces” and Representative Niki Tsongas called it a “long overdue” move that would eliminate some of the barriers to advancement that women face in the military. “The third guideline is that for a variety of reasons, equal opportunity likely will not mean equal participation by men and women in all specialities”, he added.
Before the change, Carter said the military had only opened up 111,000 positions across the services to women.
“Now, at least women can get acknowledged for the fact that they have been in harm’s way and if they’re able to do the job that some of them have been doing, it’s about time”, Knafelc said.
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“There will be no exemptions”, Carter said during a press briefing.
