Call to arms: The Pentagon further opens the door to women
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American women in uniform have been fighting and dying for their country for years in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's about time the Pentagon acknowledged it by formally opening more than 14,000 combat jobs to them.
The decision came Thursday, following a recommendation made nearly a year ago by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, set up by Congress. The new policy, which lawmakers can block within 30 work days, will allow women to assume new roles at the battalion level, such as tank and artillery mechanics and rocket launcher crew members.
That's progress for servicewomen who have shown themselves to be as capable as their male peers, but it still leaves the bulk of the military's 250,000 positions off limits to them. If anything, the Defense Department's move is too slow and cautious.
With 200,000 women among America's active duty force of 1.43 million, they now account for 14 percent of the nation's fighters. In the last decade, 280,000 women have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or neighboring countries -- and 144 of them never came home.
That commitment to duty and that willingness to give the last measure shows the will of many women to endure danger and sacrifice on behalf of their country. The least America can do for them is open the door further.
First Published February 13, 2012 12:00 am
