This] should not be about women's rights, equal opportunity, career assignments for enhancement purposes for selection to higher rank. It is about, most assuredly is about…combat effectiveness, combat readiness, winning the next conflict….-General Robert H. Barrow (retired) 27 th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps So began the testimony of General Barrow before the Senate Armed Services Committee in June 1991 regarding his opinion on women in combat during which he gave his ultimate conclusion:"women can't do it….and there is no military need to put women into combat." 2 That is about to change. The revolution in robotics and autonomous systems is poised to alter the debate from whether women are able to meet combat standards to how gender diversity in combat will improve the US military's fighting capability. Over the next decade, the US military will reap huge benefits from robotic and autonomous systems that will fundamentally change both the tools used on the battlefield and the approach taken to combat. Not only will robotic technology undermine the standard arguments against women in combat, but full gender integration across all combat roles will maximize American employment of autonomous systems and corresponding combat effectiveness.To understand how robotics will change the equation of women in combat, this article first examines the current law and policy regarding women in combat positions, taking a close look at how the services are approaching the current DoD guidance to establish gender-neutral standards for all occupational specialties. While present policy and direction favors opening all
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