WASHINGTON — GI Jane, get your gun!
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today will announce the end of the military’s ban on women serving in combat, officials said.
The historic integration of women on the front lines as infantry soldiers will make 230,000 Army and Marine jobs open to female troops.
Under the policy, women potentially could join elite commando units.
Military officials stressed that the change would not necessarily expose more of America’s brave servicewomen to a greater risk of being wounded, killed or captured as POWs than they already face in the modern military because there is less trench warfare.
The move was applauded by Democratic lawmakers.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called it “a proud day for our country and the step we need to formally recognize the brave women who are already fighting and dying for our country shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers in uniform on the front lines.”
“I support it. It reflects the reality of 21st-century military operations,” said Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Republicans were mostly silent as news of the groundbreaking new policy leaked out.
But Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War hero and the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he supports the decision.
He also urged caution.
“As this new rule is implemented, it is critical that we maintain the same high standards that have made the American military the most feared and admired fighting force in the world — particularly the rigorous physical standards for our elite special-forces units,” McCain said.
Panetta decided to end the 1994 rule barring women from military combat jobs based on a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The change follows a policy adopted about a year ago that opened 14,000 new military jobs to women but still barred them from fighting in front-line combat.
The military services will immediately begin to draft plans to accept women into combat jobs, though criteria to qualify for elite unites such as Navy SEALs or Army Rangers could take longer.The military will have three years, until January 2016, to request special exemptions for jobs they want to keep off-limits for women.