Time to open all combat roles to women: Your Say

Starting next year, all U.S. military combat jobs will be open to women, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday. Letter to the editor:

Allowing women to serve in all combat positions is a giant step toward equality in the military. It is a crowning achievement for President Obama and feminists, and they should receive the recognition they deserve. But the job is not finished. They now need to require women to sign up for the draft, and the government should proactively use it to ensure that the number of women serving in combat matches that of men.

Jim Conner; Saint Davids, Pa.

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

It’s about time.

— Will Sly

I was brought up with the old adage about first taking care of all women and children, and I believe it’s our mandate as men.

— Alex Varga

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Some sexists don’t realize that women in the military are grown adults, with brains, who know what they’re getting into.

People in the U.S. need to adopt the common-sense attitudes of those in nations with successful female combat soldiers and stop treating women like they don’t understand their choice. It’s almost like they think this will be harder than the physically, mentally and emotionally charged lives most women already lead with grace.

— Wendy Schwartz

As a female veteran, I’m disappointed. No matter how hard-core I may have thought I was at times, I was never as tough as the men in combat were. I fear for our troops now.

— Cindy Foote