HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) -
On Thursday, Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the military would lift its ban on women
serving in combat roles.
The change overturns a 1994 rule restricting women from
serving in infantry units, and although the decision has been made and does not
require the approval of congress, Congressman Steven Palazzo believes there are
still many more questions that need to be answered, especially by the service
chiefs.
"Women have been in combat zones, women have been
hurt, women have been killed, but at the end of the day it's going to be a
question of how far do we go down the military occupational specialties," said
Palazzo. "They've proven themselves beyond a doubt, and yet I'm looking forward
to seeing, you know, the statistics and hearing from the service chiefs. I
think there's a lot of questions that need to be answered, I'm looking forward
to the conversations going forth because the main thing to me is we have to
make sure that we can maintain three things, that's recruitment, retention, and
readiness, and that's what's important and I think I'm looking forward to
hearing what the service chiefs have to say."
Not every woman who applies for a combat role will
be given an opportunity, but the change is expected to open 230,000 front-line
positions to women.
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