Women in the Military

Air Force ROTC cadets run a physical fitness test at the UMass Amherst track on April 26, 2012, in Amherst, Mass.

Female recruits form up at the Marine Corps Training Depot on Parris Island, S.C., Feb. 21, 2013. Brig Gen. Loretta Reynolds, the first female general in charge of Parris Island's basic training, says she is confident that women in the Corps will do well in combat, if need be.

In this photo, Female recruits box during training at the Marine Corps Training Depot on Parris Island, S.C., Feb. 21, 2013.

Female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan, Sept. 18, 2012.

Capt. Sara Rodriguez of the 101st Airborne Division pours water on her face during the expert field medical badge testing at Fort Campbell, Ky., May 9, 2012. Female soldiers are moving into new jobs in once all-male units as the US Army breaks down formal barriers in recognition of what's already happened in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US Marine and Female Engagement Team leader Sgt. Sheena Adams (l.) and H.N. Shannon Crowley from First Battalion, Eighth Marines sit in an armored vehicle before heading out on an operation from their base at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province Nov. 13, 2010.

US Marine Female Engagement Team members Lance Cpl. Mary Shloss (r.) of Hammond, Ind., Sgt. Monica Perez (c.) of San Diego, Calif., and Cpl. Kelsey Rossetti, of Derry, N.H., wait for the signal to begin their patrol Aug. 10, 2009, with Golf Company, 2nd Batallion, 3rd Regiment of the 2nd MEB, 2nd MEF in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The team's mission was to engage local Afghan women to find out and address their concerns. In February 2012, the Pentagon recommended to Congress that women be formally allowed to serve in more jobs closer to the front lines.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to service members with the Army Nurse Corps, Feb. 3, 2012, at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany.

A member of the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations talks to Iraqi children during a visit to An Nassiria, Iraq, May 3, 2003.

Soldiers exercise in a gym at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Oct. 16, 2010.

Nur Mohamed, chief of police in the village, speaks to 1st Lt. Candace Mathis from Rome, N.Y. (l.) as US Army soldiers of Alpha Troop, 3rd Squadron 71st Cavalry of the 10th Mountain Division visit the village of Mirdish, in Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan on Sept. 22, 2006.

Portrait of the late US Army Sgt. Shawna Morrison of Paris/Champaign, Ill., is part of a collection of portraits of more than 1,300 US military men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan that is on display at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington Nation Cemetery, March 23, 2005.

Spc. Erica Taliaferro, a US soldier from 549th MP Company, Task Force Bronco, patrols in Pachir wa Agam district in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, March 5, 2012.

Members of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) listen to speakers during a medal ceremony held in their honor in the Capitol in Washington on March 10, 2010. The Congressional Gold Medal was given to WASP members in recognition for their contribution during World War II as the first women to fly US military planes.