Shine Basic Training: What Does the Military's New Women in
Combat Policy Mean?  Women in military combat: not a
fantasy.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's historic announcement
that women may now serve in military combat has equal-rights
advocates cheering--but many civilians scratching their heads.
For starters, nearly 140 female soldiers have already died in
action in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, and more than 800 have
been wounded. If the now-ended Combat Exclusion Policy didn't
allow them on front lines, how did it happen? And what does the
new policy actually mean?  We turned to experts including Greg
Jacob, policy director for the Service Women's Action Network,
which works for military equality and challenged the federal ban
with a lawsuit brought by the ACLU in 2012, to break down the
details of the policy change for Shine readers. Here's what we
learned:  There are no laws prohibiting women from combat units.
Those were repealed in the early 1990s. However, since then, it
has been U.S. military policy