There’s not a military job that a qualified woman can’t do, the Pentagon's No. 2 general said.
The challenge will be in recruiting and retaining those women, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva explained at the annual Officer Women’s Leadership Symposium outside Washington, D.C., and how the military carries out its integration of women into its newly opened specialties, from the Army Rangers to the Navy SEALs.
“I am absolutely convinced — we haven’t got a single job in the military that a woman can’t do as well as a man,” Selva told the audience of about 200 service academy, active-duty and veteran women.
He doesn’t expect, however, that opening the last combat jobs will create a flood of women into the services or to those specialties.
“The decision this year to open all career fields to both men and women means that in theory we could recruit 50 percent of our force as women,” he said. “It won’t happen. My prediction is the best we’ll get is 20 percent.” more
