USA Today said that nearly a decade after the ban on American women fighting was overturned, Women are now on the front lines and occupying the highest positions.
The last restriction on women serving in the military ended in 2013 when then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifted the Pentagon’s ban imposed in 1994 on the presence of women in direct ground combat roles. Qualifications for all combat jobs in the US Army except in 2016.
The newspaper continued that 10 years after the Pentagon abolished the ban on women serving in ground combat positions, female soldiers have achieved a rise in the ranks of front-line units, but the problem of untraceable harassment in the ranks, and increased reporting in the latest Pentagon survey, threatens this progress.
Facing its worst recruiting crisis since the Vietnam War, The US military is struggling to meet its priorities without more soldiers, the paper said. Some soldiers say that women taking more prominent roles in the fighting could ease the recruitment crisis.
For most soldiers, 63% of whom joined the army after women became eligible to participate in ground combat roles, having a woman in charge of their unit is normal.
The newspaper examined US Army data on women in combat jobs, identified some of the most popular fields, and spoke with several soldiers, both men, and women, to rate progress and acceptance.
Serving in a combat unit such as artillery, armor, infantry or aviation is essential to reach the highest military ranks.
For example, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is an infantry officer. When a woman reaches this rank, it is naturally assumed that she is a descendant of a generation of fighting officers.
Women have been serving in the US military for a long time, and there were more than 3 M women who served in the country’s army.
