On
Wednesday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced plans to lift a
ban on women in combat that has been in place since 1994. News outlets
like the Associated Press and the Washington Post
called the move "groundbreaking" and "a watershed policy decision" that could open up hundreds of thousands of front-line
positions to women -- including, potentially, jobs in elite commando
units.
While front lines may never be the same,
the announcement was just the latest step in a gradual loosening of
restrictions on American women at war: the Pentagon announced last year that it
would open about 14,000 combat-related positions to women (though
thousands of others jobs were still off-limits), and women have
served in both Iraq and Afghanistan -- wars in which the line between
combat and non-combat situations was often blurry. Here's a look at some
of the women who have been paving the way for the female fighters to
come.
Above, soldiers play poker at their base in Ramadi, Iraq in March 2005.
Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
