The opening of all positions in conventional force units to women now means the Army no longer has a separate policy for assigning women soldiers.

In a Jan. 29 directive to field commands, acting Army Secretary Patrick J. Murphy ordered an overhaul of 10 Army regulations governing officer, warrant officer and enlisted soldier assignment procedures.

The long-anticipated action has the practical effect of opening 125,318 additional positions in conventional forces to women, along with a multitude of officer career branches, enlisted career management fields, skill identifiers and functional training opportunities.

The sweeping changes eliminate the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule.

They also respond to a Dec. 3 directive from Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordering the full integration of women in the armed forces.

As a result of the Carter and Murphy directives, the following infantry, field artillery and armor military occupational specialties have been opened to women: 11A (Infantry Officer); 11B (Infantryman); 11C (Indirect Fire Infantryman); 11Z (Infantry Senior Sergeant); 13F (Fire Support Specialist); 19A (Armor, General); 19B (Armor); 19C (Cavalry); 19D (Cavalry Scout); 19K (Armor Crewmember), and 19Z (Armor Senior Sergeant).

Photo Credit: Marie Berberea, Fort Sill Pfc. Brittany Smith, with A Battery, 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery, unhooks a Multiple Launch Rocket System ammunition pod, April 16, 2013, at Fort Sill, Okla. Smith is one of four women in the first 13-M MLRS Crewmember class to have female Soldiers. Another 13-M class has just begun with nine women in it.

The Army has updated its policies to reflect the fact all jobs will soon open to women.

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Photo Credit: Marie Berberea/Army

Also opened to women are the following skill identifiers and additional qualification identifiers that typically are awarded upon graduation from function training courses:

• SIs B1 (Infantry Mortar NCO Leader), B2 (Light Leaders Course), B4 (Sniper), B7 (Bradley Transition Course), B8 (Anti-Armor Leaders Course), C2 (Dragon Gunnery), E9 (M901 Improved TOW Vehicle Gunner/Crew Training) and K8 (Master Gunnery M1A2 Tank).

Also, L7 (Joint Fires Observer), R4 (Stryker Armored Vehicle Operations/Maintenance), R8 (Mobile Gun System Master Gunner), 3J (M1A2 Abrams Tank), 3Z (Mortar Unit Officer), 5R (Ranger) and 5S (Ranger Parachutist).

The SQIs are G (Ranger), T (1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta Unit Operator) and V (Ranger Parachutist).

Spec ops

The Jan. 29 directive also opens up thousands of special operations positions throughout the Army :

• The remaining 7,475 career management field 18 (Special Forces) and Ranger-coded positions within Army Special Operations Command Headquarters, 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional), and the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

Also, 3,742 positions in the 75th Ranger Regiment, and 2,265 positions within the National Guard 19th and 20th Special Forces Groups.

With the opening of these 13,482 positions in the special operations community, the Army also will open the following CMF 18 specialties and skill identifiers to women:

• AOC 18A (Special Forces Officer) and MOS 18B (Special Forces Weapons Sergeant), 18C (Special Forces Engineer Sergeant), 18D (Special Forces Medical Sergeant), 18E (Special Forces Communications Sergeant), 18F (Special Forces Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant), 18Z (Special Forces Senior Sergeant) and 180A (Special Forces Warrant Officer).

Also, SIs Q5 (Special Forces Combat Diving, Medical); S6 (Special Forces Combat Diving, Supervision); W3 (Special Forces Sniper); W7 (Special Forces Underwater Operations); and 4W (Underwater Special Operations) and SQI W (Special Forces Advanced Reconnaissance, Target Analysis Exploitation Techniques).

The changes described above are effective immediately and apply to the Regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve.

While the proponent agency for these policies is the Office of the Army G1 (human resources) at the Pentagon, responsibility for executing the changes goes to division and corps G1s, Army Human Resources Command and brigade-level commanders and S1s .

Changes within the National Guard will be overseen by the Army National Guard G1 Directorate, state adjutants general and unit commanders and S1s.

As required by federal law, Congress was officially notified of these changes 30 days in advance of Murphy's Jan. 29 directive.

The following regulations will be revised to reflect the new assignment policies: ARs 71-32 (Force Development and Documentation, 135-100 (Appointment of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Army), 350-51 (Army Officer Candidate School and 570-4 (Manpower Management).

Also, 600-13 (Army Policy for the Assignment of Female soldiers), 601-210 (Active and Reserve Component Enlistment Program), 611-1 (Military Occupational Classification Structure and Development and Implementation), 614-100 (Officer Assignment Policies, Details and Transfers) and 614-200 (Enlisted Assignments and Utilization Management).

Any changes to the policies described above must be staffed through the Army G1 for approval by the secretary of defense.