Pentagon to Lift Some Rules Banning Women in Combat

By Newsroom America Staff at 9 Feb 2012

(Newsroom America) -- The Pentagon is preparing rule changes that would allow more women into front line combat roles, ABC News reported Wednesday.

Defense officials said as many as 14,000 positions could be opened to women under the changes. But, defense officials added, the Pentagon would not be recommending lifting the ban on women in infantry units, said the report.

Some 300,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 144 have been killed during those conflicts.

The rule change is included in a report required by Congress as part of last year's Defense Authorization Act, but it is several months overdue.

Despite still being banned from front line infantry units, positions at the combat battalion level would be open that have previously been off limits, said the report.

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