The Pentagon says that women can now serve in front-line combat positions. Saying America’s military must draw from “the broadest possible pool of talent,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that women in the U.S. military—including the Army and Marines—can now serve in combat posts. The formal process to open combat jobs to women began in January of 2013; in finishing that process, Carter acknowledged that in recent years, U.S. women have fought—and sometimes given their lives—in combat posts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Carter made the announcement Thursday; the event was not attended by Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, whose branch of the service was the only one to request the ability to make exceptions to the new rule. Dunford is now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “There will be no exceptions,” Carter said.
