[h=3]By JULIAN E. BARNES[/h]WASHINGTON—The Pentagon on Thursday will announce it is rescinding a rule that excludes women from combat, a move that may allow women to serve for the first time alongside infantry troops as battlefield medics, pilots and in other dangerous roles.
The announcement will mark the largest expansion yet of women in combat roles. But defense officials said they don't expect the change to result in women being allowed to serve as infantry troops.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to lay out a plan for studying the expansion of service by women in military specialties from which they are now excluded.
"The time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service," Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a January 9 memo to Mr. Panetta.
While the move does not lift all restrictions on military service by women, the announcement is an acknowledgment that women on modern battlefields already are in the fight—and that military rules need to be updated to reflect current realities of the current-day warzones.
The move comes after Mr. Panetta last February ordered military service chiefs to find ways to expand the role of women.
• Invalid email address.
• You can't enter more than 20 emails.
• Seperate multiple addresses with Commas.
• Must enter an email address.
• You must enter the verification code below to send.
• Invalid entry: Please type the verification code again.
The announcement will mark the largest expansion yet of women in combat roles. But defense officials said they don't expect the change to result in women being allowed to serve as infantry troops.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to lay out a plan for studying the expansion of service by women in military specialties from which they are now excluded.
"The time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service," Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a January 9 memo to Mr. Panetta.
While the move does not lift all restrictions on military service by women, the announcement is an acknowledgment that women on modern battlefields already are in the fight—and that military rules need to be updated to reflect current realities of the current-day warzones.
The move comes after Mr. Panetta last February ordered military service chiefs to find ways to expand the role of women.
• Invalid email address.
• You can't enter more than 20 emails.
• Seperate multiple addresses with Commas.
• Must enter an email address.
• You must enter the verification code below to send.
• Invalid entry: Please type the verification code again.