--- description: One thing the U.S. military can do is draft reports. The Pentagon has released the services' plans detailing how women are to be integrated into... title: Women in Combat Marching Orders Issued image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce9ad365395ff837/698a9a1b9862f541e289c7fd/rtr3e0ke.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Women in Combat Marching Orders Issued by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jun 18, 2013 6:15 PM CUT  A U.S. marine drinks the blood of a cobra during a jungle survival exercise with the Thai Navy as part of the "Cobra Gold 2013" joint military exercise, at a military base in Chon Buri province February 20, 2013\. About 13,000 soldiers from seven countries, Thailand, U.S., Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are participating in the 11-day military exercise. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (THAILAND - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) - RTR3E0KE A U.S. marine drinks the blood of a cobra during a jungle survival exercise with the Thai Navy as part of the "Cobra Gold 2013" joint military exercise, at a military base in Chon Buri province February 20, 2013\. About 13,000 soldiers from seven countries, Thailand, U.S., Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are participating in the 11-day military exercise. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (THAILAND - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) - RTR3E0KEREUTERS by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jun 18, 2013 6:15 PM CUT One thing the U.S. military can do is draft reports. The Pentagon has released the services’ plans detailing how women are to be integrated into front-line combat units over the next couple of years. The reports are from the [**Army**](http://www.defense.gov/news/ArmyWISRImplementationPlan.pdf "undefined"), the [**Navy**](http://www.defense.gov/news/NavyWISRImplementationPlan.pdf "undefined"), the [**Air Force**](http://www.defense.gov/news/AirForceWISRImplementationPlan.pdf "undefined"), the [**Marines**](http://www.defense.gov/news/MarineCorpsWISRImplementationPlan.pdf "undefined") and the [**Special Operations Command**](http://www.defense.gov/news/SOCOMWISRImplementationPlan.pdf "undefined"). “I remain confident we will retain the trust and confidence of the American people by opening positions to women, while ensuring that all members entering these newly opened positions can meet the standards required to maintain our warfighting capability,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel [**says**](http://www.defense.gov/news/SecDefWISRMemo.pdf "undefined") in his just-released letter urging the services to forward march toward their goal of putting women on the front lines. Not everyone agrees. “Department of Defense and military leaders are letting down the troops by moving ahead with ill-advised plans to order (not ‘allow’) women into physically-demanding direct ground combat positions,” says Elaine Donnelly of the independent [**Center for Military Readiness**](http://www.cmrlink.org/ "undefined"), a persistent opponent of opening up combat units to her gender. “Missions of these fighting teams, which attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action, are very different from the experiences of courageous military women who have served in harm’s way while exposed to incident-related or contingent combat in war zones since 9/11.” Sounds like some Marines _Battleland_ knows. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7164267/women-in-combat-marching-orders-issued/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7164267/women-in-combat-marching-orders-issued/"},"headline":"Women in Combat Marching Orders Issued","datePublished":"2013-06-18T18:15:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T03:29:53.952Z","description":"One thing the U.S. military can do is draft reports. 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