Panetta opens combat roles to women

[Xithras]

31. I was referring to mechanics, field translators, etc.

For example, there are currently combat patrols in Afghanistan where women join the men on patrol as translators and because Afghan culture makes it difficult for civilian women to communicate with male soldiers. These female soldiers carry firearms, wear armor, and walk the same patrols as men, but they are classified as translators or liasons, and not as combat soldiers. Same location, same duty, different title, lower pay.

Or look at the infamous story of Jessica Lynch's unit. She was part of a supply quartermasters unit, an allegedly "noncombat" unit that allowed women to serve. She still ended up shot and captured, which was still an admittedly better fate than her dead colleagues.

"Combat" and "noncombat" designations are largely pointless in modern warfare. Any soldier, on any base or vehicle, can find themselves in combat virtually anywhere. To deny women combat pay and promotions, when they are already dying alongside men, is equally pointless.