Kathleen Wood said she had opportunities to achieve the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force, but some other women are concerned they have not received the same promotions because they have not served in combat.
Air Force Reserve Chief Master Sgt. Kathleen Wood, who retired last year, thinks "it is about time" that the Defense Department allow U.S. military women to serve in combat. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is scheduled to announce on Thursday that the Pentagon was lifting is ban on women serving in combat.
A Massachusetts woman who made a career in the military is cheering the decision of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to remove the military’s ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.
“I think it is good. I think it is about time, ” retired Air Force Reserve Chief Master Sgt. Kathleen Wood, of Belchertown, said Wednesday.
Wood retired in April from the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee after a 36-year-career in the Air Force Reserve.
The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta’s decision, set to be announced Thursday, gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.
A senior military official says the services will develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions. Some jobs may open as soon as this year. Assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including Navy SEALS and the Army’s Delta Force, may take longer.
The roles of women in the military have changed dramatically in the past 50 years and it is time for them to be allowed in combat as well, Wood said. She said she remembers seeing an old manual given to men in the military on how to work with women – one part reminds men their female co-workers need breaks so they can freshen up and put on their lipstick.
In her 36-year career, Wood has seen dramatic changes. At one time women in the Air Force were either nurses or in administration. Now they are pilots and members of the military police. In her position as wing process manager, she saw more and more women jet mechanics.
“Why would there be a difference? We are soldiers, airmen, Marines, sailors. We are never about men and women,” Wood said. “If a woman wants to do it, why shouldn’t she be able to?”
Wood said she had opportunities to move her way up and around the military and achieve the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force, but some other women are concerned they have not received the same promotions because they have not served in combat.
Women and men receive the same physical and academic training, so there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to do the same jobs, she said.
“You are told as a kid you can be anything you want. You can be the president, but excuse me, you can’t be in combat,” Wood said.
In the Massachusetts National Guard, women do serve as combat pilots, but there are none in infantry units, said Maj. Lisa Ahaesy, spokeswoman at Massachusetts National Guard state headquarters in Milford.
She said it is too soon to comment on how the change will affect National Guard Units, including the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield.
“Each individual service will look at the change in policy and tailor it to their individual service,” Ahaesy said.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.