Due to new policy changes, which the Defense Department recently announced, women in the military will have a better opportunity to find the employment they have been seeking. Nearly 14,000 new job opportunities will be available for military women, especially women soldiers. These changes were in the reported that the Defense Department sent to Congress at some point last week. The Department of Defense is making a commitment to help military members find employment that will work with them and their talents, along with what they are capable of doing and performing.

Leone E. Panetta, the Defense Secretary, said that women are able to prove themselves while in battle and while out of battle. He says that women have made much of a contribution to military and because of their courage and their willing to sacrifice themselves for their country; they have proven that they can participate in a number of different jobs and positions. He also says that they will be trying to create as many positions as they can for these women.

DOD will be lifting a policy that was once set in 1994, which prohibits women from being able to work certain jobs, which includes tank mechanic jobs because they are close to combat units. Once this policy is lifted, nearly 13,000 jobs will be open and available for women who have served the military. This will be the first time that these women will have the opportunity to be employed within these particular positions, which were once considered off limits for women.

There are other changes that are being made as well. Of course, while the Defense Department has these changes in mind, they will not be able to implement the new policies they have in mind until it passes through Congress, which will probably happen sometime during the springtime.

Statistics that were released by the Pentagon show that at least 144 women of the military have been killed in both combat and noncombat situations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. At least 20,000 of the 205,000 military members serving in Afghanistan are women. There are currently about 1.4 million active-duty military members right now and of that 1.4 million, at least 205,000 of them are women.

With these changes in place, women will have a broader spectrum of jobs to choose from. This will give women from the military more opportunities. It is, after all, important that there be more opportunities available for military women. The Defense Department has this in mind, hoping to increase the available opportunities for military women so that new positions will be offered to them. Many of these positions that will become open to military women will, in fact, involve Army work.