The US military currently prohibits women from serving in combat arms positions. This means "frontline" jobs, that are expected to see "direct combat", which is defined as "engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with the hostile force's personnel. Direct combat takes place well forward on the battlefield while locating and closing with the enemy to defeat them by fire, maneuver, or shock effect." There are a lot of problems with this ban, but the most obvious being that women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are already being put into these positions, and then subsequently not credited for it.

It has been argued that by having this ban, men in the military, even in non-combat arms positions, view women as inferiors. This not only creates a hostile work environment (which could be contributing to the lower retention rates among women), but also creates an environment where sexual assault and harassment runs rampant. Women in the military are estimated to be sexually assaulted two times as often as the national average. In the civilian world 60% of rapes are estimated to go unreported. In the military world, that number is estimated by DoD to be 80%. In 2009 less than 18% of reported cases went to trial. This leads to higher rates of PTSD in women (who are more likely to develop PTSD from sexual trauma than from combat, compared to men). This then enters the plethora of issues with the Veterans Affairs Department and treatment.

This ban also affects promotions in the US military. In a recent report by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, it was concluded that "DoD and the Services should eliminate the "combat exclusion policies" for women, including the removal of barriers and inconsistencies, to create a level playing field for all qualified servicemembers." 15% of military personnel are female, while only 6% of senior leadership are female. This ban is largely responsible for this gap.

The problems with this ban are far and wide. This is supposed to be a country where discrimination based on sex is illegal, yet our own government engages in it. We are addressing this to Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Adam Smith (D-WA) who head the House Armed Services Committee and Carl Levin (D-MI) John McCain (R-AZ) who head the Senate Armed Services Committee. We are also addressing this to the President since he is the Commander in Chief.