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Panetta: 'Everyone's entitled to a chance'

Women have been fighting for the right to serve in combat positions for decades. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta handed them a sudden - and nuanced - victory on Thursday.

Women have been fighting for the right to serve in combat positions for decades. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta handed them a sudden - and nuanced - victory on Thursday.

Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed a memo authorizing the change at the Pentagon. They said the decision was prompted by the valiant efforts of women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of Thursday, 152 women had died and an additional 958 had been wounded. Many received awards for their service.

"If they can do the job, if they can meet the standards, if they can meet the qualifications that are involved here, there is no reason why they shouldn't have a chance," Panetta said. "That's just a fundamental belief of mine, and I think it's a fundamental belief of the American people.

"Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier, he said. "But everyone is entitled to a chance."

Each branch of the military must supply the secretary of defense with a report, which will be presented in May, outlining how it will adapt to the lifting of the ban. The branches have until 2016 to apply to keep certain positions closed to women.

"The services will bear the responsibility for providing the thorough analysis needed to articulate what's best needed for the armed forces," Gen. Dempsey said. "We all wear the same uniform, and we all fire the same weapon."

Proponents argued that women were already serving in combat roles because the changing nature of warfare made traditional battle lines obsolete. No longer could women hide behind an arbitrary line.

Opponents argued largely that they were opposed to having women serve in combat roles, that they worried their presence would cause the military to lower its fitness standards or that the women wouldn't have privacy working close to male soldiers.

"I did not think it would come in my lifetime," said Col. Sharon M. Johnson, who is stationed at Pope Air Field Base in North Carolina and worked for a time at the 911th Airlift Wing in Moon. "I was surprised and delighted, and I think now the hard work starts for everybody."

President Obama issued a statement Thursday saying: "This milestone reflects the courageous and patriotic services of women through more than two centuries of American history and the indispensable role of women in today's military. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice, including more than 150 who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan - patriots whose sacrifices show that valor knows no gender."

Meanwhile, those who have closely monitored the changing roles that women play in the military are waiting patiently to see exactly how many new jobs open up to women.

"It's evolutionary," Francoise Bonnell, director of the U.S. Army Women's Museum. "I think it's one of those changes where in 20 years, we'll look back and say, 'Wow, it was a big change at the time, but we've learned a lot from it."

Dempsey warned that no one knows where future conflicts will be, so the military needs time to review and revise standards for combat jobs.

He suggested that eliminating the ban on women in some combat roles could help with the ongoing sexual assault and harassment problems in the military.

"When you have one part of the population that is designated as warriors and another part that's designated as something else, I think that disparity begins to establish a psychology that in some cases led to that environment." said Dempsey. "I have to believe, the more we can treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equally."