Pentagon Allows Women in Combat The Pentagon's decision to end the official ban on women in combat positions shatters the second of the two modern military myths. The first was that gay people were not serving in the military; they were, but they had to hide and lie. The other was that women were not already in combat; they were, but their role was not fully acknowledged. In modern warfare, where there are no clear frontlines, women put their lives on the line, just like their male comrades. Gail Collins wrote today about Shoshana Johnson, a cook, who was shot in both ankles and held captive for 22 days after her unit was separated from a convoy; and Lori Piestewa, a driver who was fatally injured in a crash in that same convoy. But the no-women-in-combat rule barred women from official combat positions which bring higher pay and a pathway to promotion. Clearing away the myth and allowing women to qualify for combat positions just as men must do will go a long way toward addressing lingering inequity issues in the armed forces. Until Bill Clinton's presidency, gay men were prohibited from serving in the military. After "don't ask don't tell" they were allowed to serve, but not openly. As a society we went from pretending there were no gay men in the military to expecting them to lie every single day, violating the military's code of conduct. Honesty didn't just jeopardize their military careers. It ended them. Women are still going to have a tough road to advance in the military. And the inequities suffered by gay men and lesbians in the military did not end with the demise of "don't ask, don't tell." The Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages, denies benefits of all kinds to same-sex partners and spouses - including of course the spouses of active duty personnel. But allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in uniform, and all women who qualify to serve openly in combat roles is a sea change. Top brass engineered both of these major changes. It was the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William Smullen, who went up to Capitol Hill and disarmed political opposition to ending "don't ask, don't tell." And as the Times reported today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made his decision after receiving a letter on Jan. 9 from Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who said the chiefs all agreed "the time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service."