The Associated Press is reporting that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift the ban on women serving in combat in the United States military.

According to the A.P., the move will open "hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war."

The American Forces Press Service reports Panetta made the decision to overturn the 1994 rule that banned women from ...

More than 14,000 military jobs previously closed off to female troops because of their proximity to combat will become available to them on May 14, the Department of Defense announced today.

The announcement stems from two big changes made in February 2012 to the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule. That rule in essence banned female service members from working in positions near combat units - positions like ...