There are various combat roles that, for years, women have been restricted from fulfilling in the United States military.
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Since Panetta’s decision, the military services have opened up job specialties formerly restricted to women that add up to 111,000 jobs now available for female service members, according to the Pentagon.
“This means that, as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before”, he said. “We shouldn’t diminish that”. 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 everyone.
The move reflects the need to draw talent from the entire population to best serve the needs of the modern military, Carter said.
Two Democratic members of the armed services panels welcomed Carter’s decision. But it’s uncertain how many will actually want to compete for some of the more grueling Army and Marine Corps infantry posts or for spots on the high-risk special operations teams. “Today, I’m announcing my decision not to make continued exceptions, in that is, to proceed with opening all these remaining occupations and positions to women”, stated Carter”. Carter’s decision overrides a suggestion made by the Marine Corps in that ladies ought to continue not being allowed to serve in its combat units. “There must be no quotas or perception thereof”, said Carter.
The Marine Corps has long held concerns that integrating women into combat units could erode morale in all-male platoons and lead to increased sexual tension that would undermine fighting capability. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Republican from Texas, said, “Congress has an essential Constitutional role to make rules for the government and regulation of our nation’s armed forces”. And three women became the first to take and pass the Army’s hard Ranger course.
At present some 145,000 roles in the army, 4,100 jobs in the air force, and 3,700 jobs in the navy – among them roles in the elite Seal teams – are only offered to men.
“Going forward, we shouldn’t be surprised if these small numbers are also reflected in areas like recruitment, voluntary assignment, retention”, he said.
Dunford’s advice was based on a study his branch conducted this year showing mixed-gender teams were less effective at combat tasks than units that only contained men.
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The services were ordered to study the issue and develop an implementation plan.
