Military Review English Edition November-December 2013 | Page 58

(U.S. Air Force illustration/Senior Airman Micaiah Anthony)

The ban on women in combat was lifted 23 January 2013. Though 99 percent of the careers offered in the Air Force are
open to women, the decision will open more than 230,000 jobs across all branches of the military. The year 2013 marks
the 20th year that the Department of Defense allowed women to serve as combat pilots.

and top-down. Commanders set the tone and nothing is more important. They must be accountable for
creating environments that are mission-focused but
never at the expense of any individual or sub-group.
The challenge will be the one expressed by two individuals interviewed for the New York Times article
“Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans
Choose All of the Above”: “I don’t want a colorblind society at all,” Ms. Wood said. “I just want both
my races to be acknowledged.” Ms. López-Mullins
countered, “I want mine not to matter.”9
At the end of the day, the soldiers themselves
must foster a fully inclusive force that treats
everyone on his or her own merits, and we should
56

do everything possible to empower them to create
new models, strategies, and tactics for achieving
this end state.

The Role of One, the Role of All

The role of women in the Army over the next
20 years is to fight and win. It is the same role as
that for men, for African Americans, for Asian
Americans, for gays, for lesbians, for Filipino
Americans, for Norwegian Americans, for gay
Cuban Americans, for lesbian Norwegian Filipino
Americans and every shade, star, and stripe in
between. That is why the asterisk appears in the
title of the essay. Substitute any class or category
November-December 2013

• MILITARY REVIEW