WASHINGTON, D.C. —
The Pentagon’s decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat presents a daunting challenge to top military leaders who now will have to decide which, if any, jobs they believe should be open only to men.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to announce today that more than 230,000 battlefront posts — many in Army and Marine infantry units and in potentially elite commando jobs — are now open to women. It will be up to the military service chiefs to recommend and defend whether women should be excluded from any of those more demanding and deadly positions, such as Navy SEALs or the Army’s Delta Force.
The historic change, which was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units.
The change won’t take place overnight: Service chiefs will have to develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior military official said. Some jobs may open as soon as this year, while assessments for others, such as special operations forces, may take longer. The services will have until January 2016 to make a case to that some positions should remain closed to women.
Officials briefed The Associated Press on the changes Wednesday on condition of anonymity so they could speak ahead of the official announcement.
There long has been opposition to putting women in combat, based on questions of whether they have the necessary strength and stamina for certain jobs, or whether their presence might hurt unit cohesion.
But as news of Panetta’s expected order got out, many members of Congress, including the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., announced their support.
“It reflects the reality of 21st century military operations,” Levin said.
Objections were few. Jerry Boykin, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, called the move “another social experiment” that will place unnecessary burdens on military commanders.
“While their focus must remain on winning the battles and protecting their troops, they will now have the distraction of having to provide some separation of the genders during fast moving and deadly situations,” said Boykin, a retired Army lieutenant general. He noted that small units often are in sustained combat for extended periods of time under primal living conditions with no privacy.
Panetta’s move comes in his final weeks as Pentagon chief and just days after President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech in which he spoke passionately about equal rights for all. The new order expands the department’s action of nearly a year ago to open about 14,500 combat positions to women, nearly all of them in the Army.
The necessities of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached — but not formally assigned — to battalions. So while a woman couldn’t be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.
AP story section
January 24, 2013
Battlefront posts expected to be open to women
- AP story section
-
-
Wash. I-5 bridge collapse caused by oversize load
A truck carrying an oversize load struck a bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River below, though all three occupants suffered only minor injuries.
-
$2B in tornado damage means hard recovery
MOORE, Okla. -- All that is left of Shayne Patterson's three-bedroom home is the tiny area where his wife hunkered down under a mattress to protect their three children when a tornado packing winds of at least 200 mph slammed through his neighborhood
-
Iowa lawmakers have deal on low-income health care
After staunchly opposing an expansion of Iowa's Medicaid program using federal funds, Gov. Terry Branstad has agreed to seek the funding for an alternate health plan for low-income residents.
-
Residents come home to pick up the pieces
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- With her son holding her elbow, Colleen Arvin walked up her driveway to what was left of her house for 40 years. It was the 83-year-old grandmother's first time back at her home since a monstrous and deadly tornado ravaged her ne
-
Iowa lawmakers look to end legislative session
Iowa lawmakers are expected back in the state Capitol on Wednesday and legislative leaders say they are close to concluding the 2013 session.
-
Gas prices up 11 cents over past 2 weeks
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) -- The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 11 cents over the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday says the price of a gallon of regular is $3.66. Midgrade costs an average of $3.8
-
HIV-infected teacher's aide accused of molestation
ST. LOUIS -- An Illinois special-needs teaching assistant accused of molesting a teenage student in school while knowingly infected with HIV remained jailed Tuesday as police investigated another claim of similar misconduct by the man involving a dif
-
Tougher threshold recommended
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- States should cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half -- from .08 blood alcohol level to 0.5 -- matching a standard that has substantially reduced highway deaths in other countries, a U.S. safety board recommends. T
-
Scranton shared close bond
SCRANTON, Pa. -- NBC's long-running "The Office" was a faux documentary about cubicle life. The Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. didn't exist. Try telling that to merchants, tourism officials and regular folks here in the real-world city
-
King, Messiah: New baby names suggest high hopes
WASHINGTON — Talk about high expectations for a newborn: King and Messiah are among the fastest-rising baby names for American boys. They're just a little behind Major, the boy's name that jumped the most spots on the Social Security Administration
- More AP story section Headlines
-
