Women warriors.

• Author: Zissou, Rebecca
• Position: NATIONAL

Three women just graduated from the Army's elite Ranger School. But will they be allowed to go on missions with their male classmates?

Last summer, 96 soldiers completed one of the most grueling training programs in the world: the U.S. Army's prestigious Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. During the 62-day program, they scaled cliffs in the middle of the night, crawled through muddy trenches covered with barbed wire, and marched for miles--all while carrying gear weighing up to 100 pounds.

Those who finish--only about 3 percent of active-duty Army soldiers-- can try out for the 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite combat unit that's sent on some of the military's most dangerous missions.

Women were allowed to attend the school for the first time this year, and in August First Lieutenant Shaye Haver and Captain Kristen Griest made history as its first female graduates. (A third woman, Major Lisa Jaster, finished the course in October.) But despite having met all the same requirements as their male classmates, they aren't allowed to compete for a spot in the regiment-- because they're women.

About 240,000 combat positions in the U.S. military--20 percent of military jobs overall--are currently off-limits to female soldiers, mainly in infantry, armor, and special forces units.

But that's about to change. Next month, the Pentagon is expected to open most--if not all--combat positions to women. The move comes nearly three years after the military's momentous decision to lift the 1994 ban on women in combat. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines had until this fall to recommend which jobs, if any, should remain closed to women. (Officials say only the Marines asked for exemptions.) U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is reviewing their recommendations and will make the final call.

"I do hope that with our performance in Ranger School, we've been able to inform that decision as to what they can expect from women in the military," Griest recently told reporters. "That we can handle things physically and mentally on the same level as men."

Women have served in the military since the nation's founding. They were nurses, spies, and cooks during the American Revolution (1775-83). In the Civil War (1861-65), some women disguised themselves as men to fight. During World War II (1939-45), hundreds of thousands of women took jobs as pilots, mechanics, and radio operators.

Tough Enough?

Today, more than 200,000 women serve in the U.S. armed forces. They make up nearly 15 percent of active-duty military personnel, working as medics, intelligence officers, military police, and in other non-combat roles.

Regardless of their job titles, women have often been involved in fighting, especially during the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In those conflicts, traditional front lines didn't exist. Firefights could occur anywhere and at any time. As a result, female...