Head of SpecOps Command: Decision on Women in Combat Imminent | Military.com: The commander of U.S. Special Operations Command said today that his recommendation on women serving in direct-action combat units would be ready in days.
Gen. Joseph Votel would not talk directly about the recommendation, but said that diversity was extremely valuable to special operations forces.
"I expect to get our recommendation on the behalf of SOCOM to the secretary of defense probably here in the next week," Votel told an audience at the 2015 Maneuver Conference at Fort Benning, Ga. "I will tell you from a SOF standpoint, from a SOCOM standpoint, we value people. People are our most important resource.
"We are an organization that the nation expects to be able to go out and work in a variety of different areas with a variety of different people. And so I would make the argument that diversity is extraordinarily important to us."
Votel's comments come on the heels of a recent speech by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who said that Marine infantry, Navy SEALs, and all other combat jobs in the Navy Department will open to women by the end of this year.
