Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will lift a ban on women serving in combat, the Associated Press reports Wednesday.
Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military’s ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.
The move overturns a 1994 rule banning women in combat. Military servies will have until January 2016 to seek special exceptions for positions that should remain closed to women.