For the first time in US military history, as long as they qualify and meet specific standards, the secretary said women will be able to contribute to the Defense Department mission with no barriers at all in their way.
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“I have chose to make a decision which applies to the entire force”, Carter said, adding that any risk to the Marines’ combat effectiveness would be mitigated by how the military implements integration of women.
Mr Carter, who is Mr Obama’s fourth defense secretary and started his job in February after working his way up the Pentagon’s bureaucratic ranks, has spoken frequently about the need for the vast USA military to be inclusive so it can attract the talent it needs.
As the services open these jobs – which include the Navy SEALs in Coronado – the defense secretary gave a nod to concerns raised by many that the USA military will have to lower its physical standards in order to get enough women into combat jobs to make the integration workable.
“He will be at my side”, Carter said.
Carter acknowledged that issue not yet been resolved, but said it would be in the coming weeks.
Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, and Rep Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairmen of the Senate and House armed services committees, issued a joint statement that said they “intend to carefully and thoroughly review all relevant documentation related to today’s decision”.
He had given Dunford until the end of October to forward his review of the services’ recommendations on which jobs, if any, should remain closed to women. The Marines were against the idea of allowing openly gay men and women to join the military citing the reason that it would hurt more and recruitment, which did not happen since the lifting of the ban.
The member of Congress spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were asked not to comment until Carter’s announcement.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, was the Marine Corps commandant at the time and argued that the Marines should be allowed to keep women out of certain front-line combat jobs.
The services will have to begin putting plans in place by April 1.
More than 280,000 women have already served honourably in Iraq and Afghanistan in de facto combat situations.
Carter noted that the Marine Corps has expressed reservations about allowing women into every position in its forces, asking “for a partial exception in some areas such as infantry, machine gunner, fire support, reconnaissance”. However, that study was criticized for only considering averages, not individual performance. “They found that gender-integrated units-so units with men and women-did not do as well as all-male units”, according to NPR’s Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman.
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The military lifted its official ban on women in combat in 2013 under then-defense secretary Leon Panetta, overturning the 1994 Pentagon rule restricting women from serving in artillery, infantry, armor and other combat roles.
