Pentagon Will Open All Combat Roles to Women
Pentagon Will Open All Combat Roles to Women by Matthew Rosenberg and Dave Phillips, New York Times
In a historic change for the American military, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter on Thursday announced that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women.
“There will be no exceptions,” Mr. Carter said at a Pentagon news conference.
The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women often found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Carter said that, after a three-year review, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Operations Command agreed that all combat positions should be open to qualified women.
Only the Marine Corps, he said, requested some exemptions.
But Mr. Carter said he overruled the Marines to open all combat positions to women because the military should operate under a common set of standards…
