Officials: Women likely to serve in combat jobs

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Two women have passed the Army’s grueling Ranger test, and even tougher and more-dangerous jobs could lie ahead. The military services are poised to allow women to serve in most front-line combat jobs, including special-operations forces, senior officials told The Associated Press.

Based on early talks, officials say the Army, Navy and Air Force likely will not seek exceptions that close any jobs to women. Marine Corps leaders, they say, have expressed concerns about allowing women to serve in infantry jobs and yet may seek an exception.

The services are wrapping up reviews and must make their recommendations to Defense Secretary Ash Carter this fall. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal debate.

Even if Marine leaders object, they are likely to meet resistance from senior Navy and Defense Department officials who want the military to be united on this issue.

Undercutting the Marines’ reservations is that Special Operations Command is likely to allow women to compete for the most-demanding military commando jobs – including the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force – though with the knowledge that it may be years before women even try to enter those fields.

Women have been steadily moving into previously all-male jobs across the military, including as members of the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, best known as the helicopter crews that flew Navy SEALs into Osama bin Laden’s compound. Women also are serving on Navy submarines and in Army artillery units.

Friday will mark another milestone as the two women graduate at Fort Benning, Ga., from the Ranger school, a physically and mentally demanding two-month combat-leadership course. Completing the course lets the two women wear the coveted Ranger black-and-gold tab, but it does not let them become members of the Ranger regiment. Neither woman has been publicly identified by the military.

Longer-term, the uncertainty of the Marine decision underscores the wrenching debates going on within the military over the changing role of women, and it reflects the individual identities of the services and how they view their warrior ethos.