Watch Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lift the ban on women in combat live online here.
The Pentagon announces an end to the ban on women in combat roles during a press conference today.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will make the announcement at 1:30 p.m. EST. The decision was influenced by the brave actions of women in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to military officials.
"Panetta made the decision 'upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,' a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the brass was still uneasy about opening the most physically arduous positions to women," wrote the Washington Post. "The Army and the Marines, which make up the bulk of the military's ground combat force, will present plans to open most jobs to women by May 15."
Women are currently barred from about 25 percent of combat positions. Officials say "most" roles will be opened to women, though military commanders have until January of 2016 to submit requests for exceptions to the new policy.
"The onus is going to be on them to justify why a woman can't serve in a particular role," said an unnamed official.
The decision aligns military policy with current reality. Despite restrictions on women's roles, many of the 20,000 women who have served in the two wars in the Middle East have found themselves in firefights.
"As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died," wrote the New York Times.
The military has undergone extensive policy changes recently, as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the policy that prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly, was repealed in 2011.