US Officially Lifts Ban on Women in Combat: Panetta

The US military officially dropped its ban on women serving in ground combat Thursday after a policy review by top commanders, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.

Published

4 months ago

Categories

US

Topics

Women, United States, US Politics

People

Leon Panetta, Martin Dempsey

Places

United States of America, Washington, D.C.

Tags

military

Transcript

SHOTLIST: WASHINGTON, JANUARY 24, 2013, SOURCE: POOL **NO RESALE for non-editorial purposes** SOUNDBITE 1 Leon Panetta (man), US Secretary of Defense (English, 21 sec): "General Dempsey and I are pleased to announce that we are eliminating the direct ground combat exclusion rule for women. And we are moving forward with a plan to eliminate all unncessary gender-based barriers to service." SOUNDBITE 2 Leon Panetta (man), US Secretary of Defense (English, 20 sec): "It's clear to all of us that women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the military's mission of defending the nation. Women represent 15 percent of the force, over 200 000." ----------- AFP TEXT STORY: US-military-women-combat,lead US officially lifts ban on women in combat: Panetta WASHINGTON, Jan 24, 2013 (AFP) - The US military officially dropped its ban on women serving in ground combat Thursday after a policy review by top commanders, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. "Women have shown great courage and sacrifice on and off the battlefield, contributed in unprecedented ways to the military's mission and proven their ability to serve in an expanding number of roles," Panetta said in a statement. "The Department's goal in rescinding the rule is to ensure that the mission is met with the best-qualified and most capable people, regardless of gender." The decision followed an "extensive review" by the chiefs of all the armed services, "who unanimously concluded that now is the time to move forward with the full intent to integrate women into occupational fields to the maximum extent possible," he said. Panetta was due to hold a press conference later on Thursday along with the US military's top officer, General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Under the decision, the armed services will have until January 2016 to carry out the changes. A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the issue did not produce acrimonious debate among the joint chiefs and that top commanders were more focused on setting out a deliberate process that would ensure tough standards were upheld for combat jobs, including physical strength requirements. US commanders began taking a second look at the ban in 2010 to reflect the changing reality on the battlefield, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have put women in harm's way. Women make up about 14.5 percent of the active duty US military, or about 204,000 service members, according to the Pentagon. Advocates for changing the policy have long argued that denying female troops a chance at ground combat jobs and awards effectively blocks them from attaining top jobs as commanders.