The Pentagon opened the door for women to serve in combat Thursday, allowing females to serve in thousands of military jobs that inch them closer, if not directly on, the front lines.
The new rules, slated to go in effect this summer, will open up about 14,000 additional jobs to women and reflect the realities of asymmetrical warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan where there are few "safe jobs." In some cases, the Pentagon is simply lifting restrictions on jobs women have already been doing. As ABC News explains, "Typically, these jobs have been made available at the combat brigade level, but not at the lower battalion level, which was deemed too close to combat situation." Here are some of the positions now formally available to women:
Charlie Morgan, the lesbian National Guardsman who is battling Stage IV breast cancer and the Defense of Marriage Act that would deny survivor benefits to her wife, had the opportunity to tell her story on Capitol Hill Thursday in a meeting that came about following a Huffington Post report.
Morgan spoke with Katherine Haley, an assistant to House Speaker John Boehner who focuses on social policy, after meeting with her congressman, Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.). A chief warrant officer in the New Hampshire Army National Guard, Morgan told both how DOMA was hurting her family and other married gay and lesbian service members whose spouses are barred from housing, health care and other benefits that straight couples in the military take for granted.
