In a move that was surprising in its lack of fanfare and buildup, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta lifted the military’s ban on women in combat, overturning a previous 1994 rule. It’s a move that is long overdue, especially considering that women have been playing a significant combat role for the past decade.
The decision came after Panetta received a letter from Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which reads in part:
“The time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.”
The simple fact of the matter is that women have been serving in combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of those conflicts. According to the Pentagon, hundreds of thousands of women have been deployed in those conflicts.
Female soldiers pilot helicopters, go on patrols, and serve in all-female teams that communicate with tribal Afghani women, gathering critical intelligence from sources that would otherwise be prohibited from speaking to American soldiers.
And yes, hundreds of women have been injured, and even died in the course of their service — during the very period of time that the ban has been in effect. Of the 280,000 women that have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 150 have died and 800 have been wounded since 2001.
Panetta’s decision merely allowed female soldiers to receive recognition for services already rendered, to serve in the units themselves rather than as unrecognized attachments.
The decision will open numerous doors for military women, giving them greater opportunities to climb up the ladder (in the military, a combat tour is an essential qualification for moving up the ranks). Already, women compose about 15 percent of our overall forces and 17 percent of the military’s officers.
Public anxieties about women in combat are a cultural holdover from a bygone era, a holdover which has kept us far behind other Western militaries: France, Germany and Australia (among others) already claim integrated combat forces that have worked in partnership to our own military during the course of the war on terror.
Female soldiers have proven themselves willing and able to serve in combat and the time has come that their capabilities be fully recognized.
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Apolitical is a blog that covers current events, politics and culture from a progressive perspective — bringing the world at large to the Malibubble, one post at a time. Follow Sienna Jackson on Twitter: @SiennaZoran
