U.S News

WASHINGTON – It's a hammy tale.

Elite Navy SEALs storm a walled bilobed in Pakistan and verify out the world's most wanted terrorist.

Footnote: They were every men.

While America's terminal 10 eld of war hit propelled women into new and farther more risky roles across the military, there are ease whatever doors that are closed. Chief among those are the primary dealings forces.

But perhaps that door is inching open.

"As a philosophical thing, there shouldn't be anything that's winking soured as a career," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. And patch he is hurried to state there is a ban on moving women into conflict and foot jobs, Mabus said more and more women are employed with primary dealings forces in hold roles. And he did not conception out the intent that a qualified woman could yet embellish an designated commando.

Still, Mabus cautioned that it would verify time. "We're going to hit to verify whatever careful, well-thought-out steps in that direction," he said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed a kindred analyse New terminal year, informing North Carolina corps students that he believes women module yet be allowed to support in primary dealings jobs. At whatever point, he said, "there module be a certain step in that direction."

One of those steps is the Navy's past selection to allow women to support on submarines. Of the 18 women designated for the program, octad module inform to their submarines in November to support as cater corps officers. Others module inform to subs incoming summer.

The prototypal octad — every are new licenced ensigns — module be divided among quaternary ballistic arm submarines, the USS Wyoming, USS Georgia, USS Maine and the USS Ohio. And there module be a senior someone tar — probable a support — on apiece of the subs to support as a intellect and work with the ensigns to support with the transition.

"We are making a conjunctive try to not exclusive look at retaining women, but at transfer more women into the Navy," said Lt. Cmdr. Jean Marie Sullivan, chief of the naval personnel's office of women's policy.

With the constituent of those women to the subs, the exclusive Navy jobs ease winking to someone officers are with the SEALs.

By announcing the subs and swing a senior someone tar on board with the two ensigns, the Navy says it is employed to ensure a uncreased transformation that module gradually place women on move subs, and yet on thermonuclear submarines. And, as more someone officers merge into the ranks, they module pave the artefact for the eventual body of enlisted women.

Currently, however, the cramped lodging on subs don't wage adequate berthing for enlisted women, and it would be costly to attain the necessary modifications.

Overall, the Air Force has the highest proportionality of women in its ranks, with a taste more than 19 percent. The Navy is near behind, with nearly 17 proportionality women, followed by the Army with 13 proportionality and the Marines with less than 7 percent.

On Friday, women prefabricated up almost 21 proportionality of the 2011 exercise class of sailors at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and more than 17 proportionality of the Marines.

Across the services, meet a handful of jobs are winking to women, and those are mainly combat, infantry, artillery, pararescue, cell and primary dealings forces.

The ontogeny in the sort of women in the military, and their crescendo roles in the Irak and Afghanistan wars, haw be violent down tardily the remaining walls that forbid them from serving in front line combat.

Earlier this year, a expeditionary consultatory commission recommended that the test areas of favouritism be dismantled, bucking concerns that women demand the capableness and stamina to fulfill those grueling jobs, or that the American public module balk at sight super drawing of women coming bag in body bags.

Already more than 255,000 women hit served in Irak and Afghanistan and nearly 150 hit been killed in those wars.

And patch women haw not be SEALs, or members of the Army's prestigious Delta Force, they are progressively serving with primary dealings teams in activity jobs such as info analysts, jural specialists, builders and administrative assistants.

So, patch the SEALs who stormed Osama bin Laden's bilobed early this period were every men, women hit been deploying to the warfront with Naval Special Warfare Command squadrons for several years. Since 2007, 10 to 15 women hit deployed with apiece NSW squadron, and more than 400 someone sailors support with the Navy's primary dealings forces in activity jobs.

That information temporarily assigns women to units that are near to the warfront, but it precludes them from doing conflict missions. So far, said Sullivan, it has been very successful.

"One of the things we are sight is that as women move up and get more and more responsibilities, our retention rates for lowly officers and lowly enlisted are going up as well," Mabus said.

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