The aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower will make history later this month when it becomes the first U.S. Navy warship to welcome women sailors aboard as full-time crew members.
The Navy is taking a vital step in providing greater opportunities for women in combat assignments.
The change was made possible last year when Congress repealed an outmoded law banning women from combat roles. In the guise of protecting women from harm, that ban actually hurt them by discriminating against their chances for promotion and higher pay. This year, up to 500 women are to be put aboard each of three carriers, including the Abraham Lincoln and the new John C. Stennis.
The other services - the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps - also are moving to increase female combat roles, as they should. The Air Force recently welcomed its first woman fighter pilot.
Some women are not suitable, mentally or physically, for certain duties, just like some men. But there is absolutely no reason to keep all women off of ships, out of combat aircraft or away from tanks or other vehicles, solely because of their gender.
This reform will let the armed services choose from a much larger pool of talent ... and stop giving certain jobs to less-qualified men because women could not apply.
Duty assignments should be based on ability to do the job, not arbitrary restrictions based on gender.
Modern warfare has put a premium on brainpower, dexterity and speed, not brute strength. It also has blurred the risks associated with combat and support duty.
This was particularly noticable during Operation Desert Storm, in which 35,000 women served, and five were killed, 21 wounded and two taken prisoner, despite combat-exclusion rules.
America's armed services no longer can afford to ignore the abilities of more than half the nation's population, and 12 percent of its military personnel, and limit their job potential.
The military needs the best and brightest people doing all its jobs, not just "a few good men."