Looks like DADT isn’t the only diversity issue heating up in the E-Ring these days.  According to Andrew Tilghman over at Army Times, a recommendation is coming in March to lift all bans on women serving in combat (story here).

The report, by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission will be a part of a formal presentation to Congress and the White House.

According to the story, the report “concluded that women do not lack the physical ability to perform combat roles; gender integration will not negatively affect unit cohesion; and women are not more likely than men to develop mental health problems.”

They mean we won’t get the vapors under fire and our “monthly visitor” won’t hamper our attempts to take a hill. I jest.

But seriously, this is one long overdue move.  I think many people, women in particular, want to know why a woman would WANT to see combat.  Well, we don’t actually want to get shot per se, but we do want the same opportunities to excel like our male counterparts. And if you are in the military, combat is one of those areas that make a difference in promotion selections. 

There are a number of men and women on deployment right now in grave danger and their job may not require them to go 5 feet outside the wire.  They are in danger of having to fight at any moment because our enemy is not a traditional enemy.  They aren’t going to stop shooting because there are women around and America has a rule against them engaging in combat.

If they were to lift the ban, women throughout the service would have exponentially expanded their career opportunities; particularly in the Army and Marine Corps, according to the Commission. 

Let’s face facts.  We can debate this for years but while that debate is going on women service members in theater are actually in combat so it isn’t a “will they or won’t they” question.  At this point it’s simply an issue of when women will get credit for the combat they have already endured. 

And those who see this as a harbinger of the end of the military as we know it have nothing to worry about.  Men will always outnumber women in the military.  It’s a man’s world.  We get it.  We just want to have the same opportunities if we are among the few who decide to commit ourselves to military service.

And when they do lift the ban I’ll be in uniform tossing my beret in front of the Pentagon like Mary Tyler Moore, celebrating the equality that many military women before me have worked for.