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A high-level military commission is set to recommend that the Pentagon reverse its long-standing policy that bars women from being in combat. Hundreds of thousands of women are currently serving in the U.S. military, and many of them are in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Pentagon's policy, women are, and always have been, barred from taking part in any ground combat operations.

But in reality, women are already in the thick of the fight — and an upcoming report will recommend that the Pentagon acknowledge the reality on the ground and allow women to be assigned to combat units.

The Military Leadership Diversity Commission was established by Congress in 2009 to look at ways to diversify the force and boost recruiting. The commission includes high-ranking retired and active-duty military officers who, for the past year, have been debating whether to overturn the current combat exclusion policy.

This policy bans women from being assigned to artillery, infantry and other combat units; it says women can be attached to these units in support roles but that they are not explicitly allowed to be part of combat groups.

The commission examined several key questions; chief among them is the issue of promotion. The quickest, most direct way to rise through the ranks in the military is to succeed in a combat-related assignment. Because women can't get those jobs, the commission concluded that the policy ends up limiting their promotion opportunities.

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