EQUITY WATCH : Fighting Chance

War is the real test of a soldier. Nearly 35,000 women in the U.S. armed forces measured up during the Gulf War. These brave Americans proved their mettle in nearly every military capacity short of direct combat.

Now the House Armed Services Committee, at the urging of Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), has taken the first step toward relaxing the outdated ban against women in combat. The committee approved an amendment to the defense budget that could broaden the role of women in uniform even further.

That provision--if it passes hurdles in the House, Senate and White House--would authorize the Pentagon to allow women who are pilots to do what military pilots must often do: fly fighters and bombers in combat.

The committee vote is not the first message sent on this subject to the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney got a stronger recommendation from a committee two weeks ago. Citing the performance of women soldiers in the Gulf, that committee urged the repeal of the combat ban established in 1948, a time when women were thought to be more in need of protection than opportunity.

Desert Storm shattered the myth that keeping women out of combat keeps them out of harm’s way. The combat exclusion may have kept women from being top guns, but it didn’t stop them from flying dangerous refueling missions, supply runs or handling other duties that came under enemy fire.

These women earned a hero’s welcome at home--and equal opportunity on the front line.