Page 38 - Combat Units News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Event to change them. i think the irony is that the war we've been fighting for the last ten years which as you said, were casualties were the catalyst that changed everything because we decided we weren't going to put women in combat units and we were fighting in environments that there are no front lines and everybody realized that there was a difference. everybody's a target and the ban against women were women if combat all of the time. >> what are going to be some of the obstacles to put in this plan in place in the military? >> of course, there are always administrative and logistical de...

Washington. when i go to the movie or out to dinner i see women combat with injuries. to me they have already been in combat in afghanistan and iraq. i think the numbers indicate there are 150 killed in those two wars. they're technically not assigned to those combat units but they're working with them as medics, intelligence officers, truck drivers. they have been on the scene. i look what is going on in israel and canada. already women have long been integrated into those combat units. i just think, for me it looked like already had been a reality. martha: mary katherine, there's a story on ...

Realized something had changed. it was time to do something about it. >> reporter: panetta and the joint chiefs have been discussing this over a year, jon. jon: i guess israeli is really the only country in the world that requires women to serve in its military. how have they handled the issue of women in combat there? >> reporter: that's a good question. female lawmakers in parliament passed a equality amendment that stated the right of women to serve in any role in the idf is equal the right of men. women had to be physically suitable to combat but suitable was left to the discretion of mili...

This year. the service chief have until may 15 to present their concerns to the defense secretary and ask for certain units to be exempt. but they will have to make a strong case. today's decision does not imply women are going to be included in the selective service or draft. shep. >> shepard: what about reaction from lawmakers? >> reaction did not necessarily fall along party lines, which was interesting. congressman duncan hunter served in iraq and expressed concern, quote, what needs to be explained is how this decision when all is said and done, increases combat effectiveness overall. >> ...

In combat units, you're by definition increasing the accessibility to higher rank. we have a significant number of women in fairly high positions in all the services but increasing combat units of women you increase number of women at higher rank. >> michael, let's bring you in. politico and a couple of other articles pointed out, not a huge groundswell of opposition. very different reaction for the most part than 15 years ago, maybe even 20 years ago but it bears reminding that it was rick santorum in some trouble on the campaign trail trying to get the nomination for the gop and discussed wo...