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CRS Report R42075: Women in Combat: Issues for Congress (December 3, 2015)
Category: Combat
CRS Report R42075: Women in Combat: Issues for Congress, dated December 3, 2015, reviews women's service in the military, including Global War on Terrorism death and wounded-in-action statistics, the landscape of war, and military policies impacting the specialties open to servicewomen. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced in December 2015 that all military services would open 100% of their military occupational specialties to qualified servicewomen.
Kristy N. Kamarck, Congressional Research Service Analyst in Military Manpower, states the issue as:
"Laws prohibiting women from serving in air and naval combat units were repealed in the early 1990s. However, until recently, it has be en Department of Defense (DOD) policy to restrict women from certain combat-related units and military occupations, especially ground combat units. Despite the official policies barring women from ground combat positions, many female servicemembers have served in combat environments for much of the recent history of the U.S. military. In the past two decades of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lines between combat and noncombat roles have become increasingly blurred and as a result DOD's exclusion policies have been called into question."
Servicewomen, as of October 2015, have lost their lives during the Global War on Terror (GWOT): 161 died and 1,016 were wounded in action. In modern combat operations, over 9,000 women received Army Combat Action Badges for "actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy," and two received Silver Stars for "gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States."
External Website:
Congressional Research Service
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