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Disrupt the docking with the international space station tomorrow. yesterday, atlantis blasted off from the kennedy space center for the final shuttle mission. the astronauts will spend a week installing fresh batteries and new russian compartment. more women, more than ever are joining the military. in 1980, the u.s. department of vet an affairs said there were 1.1 million female veterans. today the number has gone up, we have 1.8 million. when it comes to the number of female vet seeking healthcare service at the v.a. hospital, that number doubled in recent years and it is expected to doub...

Honor all our military. it's important to point out that more women than ever are enlisting these days and over the next few years, the number of female veteran social security expected to increase. after calls by vets and members of conger, the veterans administration is doing more to help each woman with health care needs when she comes back. casey stegall joins us. good to see you. >> reporter: good to see you. we love our veterans and there are more than 23 million of them living in the united states, nearly 15% of them are women. a number that has grown by more than 100,000 in just the la...

Suddenly one day, she was in combat. >> i had shrapnel through my cheek, came into this side of my cheek and it left the front. >> reporter: it's not really supposed to be this way. 16 years ago, the pentagon banned women from serving in battlefield units whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground. but the reality is, today, women are going on patrol, driving convoys, flying helicopters, in a war with no front lines. this week, an astounding admission from the head of the army. >> general, what's your view about expanding the ability of women to serve in combat roles? >>...

Voice, flying helicopters in a war with no frontlines. this week, an astounding admission from the head of the army. >> general, what is your view of expanding the ability of women to serve in combat roles. >> i think it's time to take a look at what women are doing in afghanist afghanistan, and we discussed this between ourselves here. >> reporter: 235,000 women deployed to the war zones, and 125 have lost their lives, and 668 wounded. the military already struggling to allow gays to openly serve, may not be ready for more change.

Hope that's all right. david, let me start with you on the niger issue. it seems to me we've gotten confused with this, apologies. the real issue it seems to me is we still don't really know what american troops were doing in niger. >> we don't, fareed, and we also don't know the strategic objective that they're trying to accomplish. i think what's made this such a difficult conversation, as you say it's gotten lost in the question of the apologies and what the president said and now what his chief of staff has said. but the bigger issue is we have reportedly 800 troops in niger. we have many ...