The military officially lifted a ban on assigning women to combat positions Jan. 24. But Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta alluded to the formality as simply an affirmation of what’s happening, saying men and women are already "fighting and dying together." Journalist Tanya Biank shows Krys Boyd what servicewomen have been doing all along on 'Think' at 1 p.m.
Take a look at the particulars of the original ban on women in combat and new questions surrounding its lift on NPR’s Two-Way Blog. And this trailer for the documentary Lioness lends insight into how women serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom were drawn into the fighting. They were originally designated as buffers to calm Iraqi women and children.
Listen to Think from noon to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, on KERA 90.1 or stream the show at kera.org.
