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

Cpl. Kristine Tejada, a truck commander for Task Force 2-82 Field Artillery Regiment, provides security at the ancient Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq in September 2011.

Flickr/The U.S. Army

Capt. Margaret Larson of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade speaks to flight medics from the Kandahar Air Wing at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan in November 2012.

Flickr/The U.S. Army

A female soldier with the 82nd Airborne Brigade takes cover during a neighborhood raid in Baghdad, Iraq in March 2007.

ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno speaks to Sgt. Serina Glass, a drill sergeant from the 61st Infantry Regiment, at South Carolina's Fort Jackson in October 2012.

Flickr/The U.S. Army

First-year midshipmen, or plebes, including several women, participate in the "wet and sandy" portion of the U.S. Naval Academy's annual Sea Trials. 

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad Runge/Released

A female soldier mans her weapon on top of a Humvee combat vehicle while on patrol in the streets of Baghdad, Iraq in December 2003.

EPA/KIM LUDBROOK 

Sgt. Jaclyn Guzman of Protective Services Detail keeps surveillance as Afghan and coalition forces clear a building of insurgents in Kabul in September 2011.

Flickr/The U.S. Army

A Marine and two USN Hospital Corpsman are silhouetted against the sunlight at Forward Operating Base Sabit Khadam in Afghanistan's Helmand province in June 2012.

ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images 

1st Lt. Emille Prosko of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team gives orders to her platoon during the U.S. Army in Europe's Best Junior Officer Competition at the Grafenwoehr Training Area. Prosko took 4th place overall in the competition.

Flickr/The U.S. Army