There are so many good things you can say about having women in the military that it is impossible to cover them all in a short column. Nevertheless, let's just say that women are essential to combat operations and have pulled their share of the load since the first woman donned a military uniform over two-hundred years ago.

Some forget that women in the medical corps have been at the forefront of every United States military conflict since the American Civil War. The term "In Harm's Way," hardly covered the hazards these ladies faced.

During the 1940s and 50s, women in the military were relegated to medical, dental, administrative and other so called "soft core" support jobs -- The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) were the exception. In fact for the first several years (1947 – mid-1960), federal law limited female strength to not more than two-percent of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. 

The number of women serving in the military rose dramatically with the advent of the All Volunteer Force (AVF). Currently some twenty-three percent of the military is female. If anyone remembers, it wasn't military leadership that pushed for the AVF it was the politicians stinging from the heat launched in their direction during and after the Vietnam War. 

There are several reasons for the increased numbers of women in the military. Let's start with a really good one -- civilian industry limits the career opportunities and growth of women in the corporate world. The military offers the same pay, same opportunities and assigns the same responsibilities. Uncle Sam opens more career doors and breaks more glass ceilings than Corporate America ever dreamed about.

Even after numerical restrictions were raised to allow more women to serve in the military, United States Law and Army policy continued to  prohibit women from serving in combat positions -- land, air, or sea.

Combat exclusion kept women from the most hazardous positions for many years. The most dramatic shift to more combat related duties came from pushes on several fronts, including the National Organization for Women (representing the desires of women in the military), The Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Service (DACOWITS) and the Department of Defense Task Force on Women in the Military. 

Those organizations pushed for greater career opportunities, responsible positions, etc., to help women be more competitive for promotion. However, with those opportunities came increasing risks to life and limb.

The Department of Defense Task Force on Women in the Military convened during late 1987, and presented recommendations to the Secretary of Defense in early 1988.  The task force found that previously closed combat related positions could and should be opened -- such as bomber and fighter pilot positions in the Air Force -- and other combat positions in the Army, Navy and Marines where women were physically able to complete the requirements of their specialty -- full field packs and combat marches were still "off limits" due to so-called physical capability requirements. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci approved the recommended changes to combat exclusion policy in Toto.

More rules have changed over the years to accommodate the desires of military women and their supporting organizations -- much the same as civilian rules were changed to allow women to participate in all functions of police and fire departments throughout America. Rules were also changed to allow women to become full partners in the CIA, FBI and Secret Service, among many others hazardous careers. 

As military women became more essential to combat operations the lines between the combat zone and rear echelon became too blurred to clearly distinguish, and the number of female combat related deaths rose dramatically in the War on Terror.

Regardless of what some may think, the military leadership now believes that giving women the same opportunities (and risks) as men is beneficial for the women and essential to the military departments they so effectively serve. 

A cold hard fact is the services can never return to the days of strict combat exclusion and limits on women without also returning to the military draft.

Let's not forget that American women have the right to volunteer for military service. They do so knowing their lives may eventually be placed in danger. The country should worry less about a few women dying in combat in defense of the United States and worry more about the hundreds of thousands of women who die each year on our highways, are murdered, raped and maimed in the civilian sector and denied advancement opportunities in the corporate world.