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Pentagon Lifts Ban on Combat Duty for Women

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta participates in a news conference at the Pentagon, Jan. 24, 2013, where he announced he is lifting a ban on women serving in combat.

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Luis Ramirez

January 24, 2013

PENTAGON — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has lifted a rule that excluded women from combat in the U.S. military.

In one of his last actions before retiring as secretary of defense, Panetta signed an order Thursday rescinding a 1994 rule that excluded women from combat.

“We are eliminating the direct ground combat exclusion rule for women and we are moving forward with a plan to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service,” Panetta said.

The move is expected to open up thousands of new jobs previously not available to women on the front lines.

(Click to enlarge)

The defense secretary, joined by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, told reporters at the Pentagon that women’s contributions to the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with their male counterparts in the past decade, warranted a reexamination of the old policy.

“They’re fighting and they’re dying together, and the time has come for our policies to recognize that reality,” he said.

Panetta and Dempsey said a review is under way to see what frontline positions will be opened up to women.

Officials said physical standards in physical endurance and other tests will remain the same - an effort to allay concerns that military readiness could suffer if physical standards are lowered in order to make more jobs available to women.

Elaine Donnelly is with the Center for Military Readiness, a group that opposes the changes. She doubts the Pentagon will be able to keep standards the same while at the same time working to raise the number of women in uniform.

“All these assurances that we’re hearing about training standards remaining the same are incompatible with another promise made by the Pentagon last year, and that is to advance what are called gender-based diversity metrics, or quotas, in all the armed forces. In order to achieve the critical mass or diversity metrics, you have to lower standards," Donnelly said.

More than 202,000 women serve in the U.S. military, making up 15 percent of active U.S. personnel.

See related story by Jeff Swicord:

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Pentagon Lifts Ban on Combat Duty for Women

<h1>Pentagon Lifts Ban on Combat Duty for Women</h1><img src="http://www.voanews.com/App_Themes/VOA_en-US/img/colorLogo.gif"/>U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has lifted a rule that excluded women from combat in the U.S. military.  <br /> <br /> In one of his last actions before retiring as secretary of defense, Panetta signed an order Thursday rescinding a 1994 rule that excluded women from combat.<br /> <br /> “We are eliminating the direct ground combat exclusion rule for women and we are moving forward with a plan to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service,” Panetta said.<br /> <br /> The move is expected to open up thousands of new jobs previously not available to women on the front lines.<br /> <br /> <div class='embedded_content_object'><div onclick="expandMedia('39793e3189044b218eb02a98952b54b4','Big')" id='expandSmall39793e3189044b218eb02a98952b54b4' class='expandSmall floatLeft' style='width:268px'><div class='contentImage floatLeft' style='width:268px'><img class='photo' alt="(Click to enlarge)" border='0' src='http://gdb.voanews.com/1A547FD1-3FF7-413F-8B4F-1430B90CB738_w268_r1.jpg' /><span class='imageCaption'>(Click to enlarge)</span></div></div><div id='expandBig39793e3189044b218eb02a98952b54b4' class='item_hide'><div class='contentImage floatNone'><div class='expandMediaClose' onclick="expandMedia('39793e3189044b218eb02a98952b54b4','Small')"><span>x</span></div><div class='watermark'><a href='http://gdb.voanews.com/1A547FD1-3FF7-413F-8B4F-1430B90CB738_mw1024_n_s.jpg' rel='ibox' title="(Click to enlarge)"><img class='photo' alt="(Click to enlarge)" border='0' src='http://gdb.voanews.com/1A547FD1-3FF7-413F-8B4F-1430B90CB738_w640_r1_s.jpg' /></a></div><span class='imageCaption'>(Click to enlarge)</span></div></div></div> The defense secretary, joined by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, told reporters at the Pentagon that women’s contributions to the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with their male counterparts in the past decade, warranted a reexamination of the old policy.<br /> <br /> “They’re fighting and they’re dying together, and the time has come for our policies to recognize that reality,” he said.<br /> <br /> Panetta and Dempsey said a review is under way to see what frontline positions will be opened up to women.  <br /> <br /> Officials said physical standards in physical endurance and other tests will remain the same - an effort to allay concerns that military readiness could suffer if physical standards are lowered in order to make more jobs available to women.  <br /> <br /> Elaine Donnelly is with the Center for Military Readiness, a group that opposes the changes.  She doubts the Pentagon will be able to keep standards the same while at the same time working to raise the number of women in uniform.<br /> <br /> “All these assurances that we’re hearing about training standards remaining the same are incompatible with another promise made by the Pentagon last year, and that is to advance what are called gender-based diversity metrics, or quotas, in all the armed forces.  In order to achieve the critical mass or diversity metrics, you have to lower standards," Donnelly said.<br /> <br /> More than 202,000 women serve in the U.S. military, making up 15 percent of active U.S. personnel.<br /> <br /> <strong>See related story by Jeff Swicord: </strong><br /> <br /> <div><div id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092" class="mediaplayer videoplayer"> <div id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_swfFlash"> <link id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_DynamicLink2" HrefTemplate="~/css{0}/jquery.ui.cssx" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <div class="playerUI1 big Video j_fullscreen_container j_player j_html5" id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t" style="width:640px"> <div class="can-play"> <div class="videoInner j_media-block"> <video id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_h5pHtml5" poster="http://gdb.voanews.com/7CCC4671-B7F7-4A61-9FCD-8D506333A05B_.jpg" width="640px" height="392px"> <source src="http://av.voanews.com/kaltura-test/VOA//mp4/2013/01/1_z0ds7np7_1_cs2f1u6h.mp4" type="video/mp4"> </source> </video> <img title="please wait" class="j_waiting waiting" src="../../img/loading.gif" alt="Loading" /> <div class="j_title media-title" style="display:none"> <span id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_spaMediaTitle" class="j_title-text">US Military Women to Serve in Combat Positions</span> <button class="j_title-close" type="button" title="Hide">✖</button> </div> </div> <div class="playerButtons j_playerButtons j_mediaWidth"> <div class="playerButtonsInner">  <button type="button" class="j_play play" title="Play"><span>▶</span></button> <button type="button" class="j_pause pause" style="display:none" title=""><span>||</span></button> <button type="button" class="j_stop stop" title="Pause"><span>■</span></button>  <div class="playprogressbar_container j_mediaWidth" data-wplus="-235"> <div class="j_play_loader progressbar_loader"></div> <div class="j_play_slider progressbar_slider" style=""></div> </div>  <div class="times"> <span class="j_elapsed time-elapsed">12:00:00</span> / <span class="j_total time-total">-:--:--</span> </div> <div class="right-controls">  <div class="j_all_volume_controls all_volume_controls"> <div class="j_volume_container volumeprogressbar_container"> <div class="j_volume_slider volume_slider" style=""></div> </div> <button type="button" class="j_mute mute loud"> <span class="mute" title="">🔇</span> <span class="unmute" title="">🔉</span> </button> </div>  <a id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_hylFullscreen" class="j_fullscreen fullscreen" title="" href="/flashembed.aspx?t=vid&id=1590538&w=100%&skin=embededfullscreen" href="/flashembed.aspx?t=vid&id=1590538&w=100%&skin=embededfullscreen" target="_blank"><span>⎚</span></a> <a id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_hylShare" class="share" onclick="return openSharePopup('http://www.voanews.com/emailtofriend/video/1590538.html?isflashembed=true')" href="http://www.voanews.com/emailtofriend/video/1590538.html?isflashembed=true" target="_blank" href="http://www.voanews.com/emailtofriend/video/1590538.html?isflashembed=true" target="_blank"><img src="../../img/player_ico_share_darkbg.png" alt="Share" /></a> </div> </div> </div> <button id="vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t_Button1" type="button" class="j_play playBig" title="Play"><span>▶</span></button> </div> <div class="cannot-play j_errorContainer"> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> //height correcture of the video by buttons var oVid = $("#vc858e8662baa45c4858ab41596cfb092_h5t video"); oVid.attr("height", oVid.outerHeight(true) - 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