U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey formally signed a memo on Jan. 24, 2013, to rescind a 1994 military ban on women serving in combat. The move opens hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.
The decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women. -AP