More than 1,000 American women have been injured or killed in
combat in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 12 years. At long
last, the government is giving them official permission to do
so.  The decision by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to lift the
ban on women serving in combat roles is the second historic,
game-changing shift within the U.S. military in little more than
a year. It follows on the heels of the decision to let
homosexuals serve their country openly.  "First the gays, and
now the broads," exulted one friend of mine, a former Navy
officer, on her Facebook feed. "The military is going to hell in
a handbasket, and I couldn't be happier."  What this means is
that about 250,000 combat jobs that women were officially banned
from are now open. And yes, it means that more women will be
dying.  The fight for an equal right to serve on the front lines
has been supremely righteous struggle. This was not a campaign
for the corner office, the country club membership or the keys
to the executive washroom.