Breaking: Panetta Lifts Ban on Women Serving in Military

This is big. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has lifted the ban on women serving combat roles in the military. Women were first allowed in the military in 1948, but their participation was capped at two percent for twenty years. Though that policy ended in 1967, a “Combat Exclusion Policy” has prevented them from fighting since 1994. Now that’s been lifted. For some context, read Joel Mathis’s recent Philly Post piece arguing against the ban. [AP]