Editorial Board
A Few Good Women
A flawed study shouldn't be used to keep female fighters out of combat.
At the ready.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesThe debate over whether female troops should serve in combat has largely been settled: They belong. The task now is to dissolve the remaining pockets of resistance, one of which is in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Under an order signed in 2012 by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, all of the services are required to lift the "co-location" restriction on women in combat roles by the end of this year, unless they ask for an exemption by Oct. 1. Both Army General Martin Dempsey -- chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus have urged the services to accept the change, on the grounds that a more diverse force is a stronger force.