Australian women to serve in army combat units

CANBERRA: Australian women can now serve in military combat units but will be restricted to support roles, the government said on Monday after a review of the role of females in the armed forces. Junior Defence Minister De-Anne Kelly said women could now be posted to infantry, armoured and artillery units in support roles in areas like clerical, medical, logistics, signals and transport in headquarters and administrative companies. “Previously these support roles in combat units have only been open to men .... Up to 50 women are expected to take up the postings from December this year,” Kelly said in a statement. Kelly said women make up about 13 percent of the country’s defence forces and were eligible to serve in about 90 percent of the employment categories. There are 52,000 permanent members of Australia’s army, navy and air force and 20,500 reserve members. Australia, a staunch ally of the United States, has about 1,370 troops serving in and around Iraq. Another 190 Australian special forces are due to be redeployed to Afghanistan next month. reuters

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