The U.S. military will open all combat jobs to women, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday, despite objections by the Marine Corps.
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The policy change will open up roughly 220,000 jobs and 10 percent of military specialties that have been closed to women.
3, 2015 that he has ordered the military to open all combat jobs to women, and is giving the armed services until January 1 to submit plans. He said allowing women to serve in combat roles makes the USA military “a better and stronger force”. “They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, NAVY Seals, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously only open to men”.
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”.
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Carter said that women would be allowed to serve in all military combat roles – from commanding tanks to dropping secretly behind enemy lines – by early next year.
Carter on Thursday said he came to a different conclusion, but he said the integration of women into the combat jobs will be deliberate and methodical and will address the Marines’ concerns. Senior defence officials and military officers would have to overcome the perception among many service members that the change would reduce the effectiveness of the armed services.
“When I became secretary of defense, I made a commitment to building America’s force of the future”, Carter told reporters.
“He will be at my side”, Carter said.
Carter said the move reflected the need to draw talent from the entire population to best serve the needs of modern military.
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 US Special Operations Command.
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The US military has about 15% women in its workforce. Votel said that integrating women into certain jobs in recent years, including in the Special Operations Aviation Regiment and in cultural supports teams in Afghanistan, benefited the force. But Carter said he overruled the Marines because the military should operate under a common set of standards.
