Today, as is being reported by both The New York Times and NBC News, the Pentagon is set to announce that the ban on women in combat is hereby lifted. Women in all branches of the Armed Forces of the United States will now be free to ‘be all that they can be’, to reference an archaic Army slogan. History in the making.

So that’s it, then–the fight is over, right? Equality for all, and opportunity based upon skill and ability rather than gender will now reign supreme across all facets of the American military, and our female American servicewomen will finally get the recognition that they deserve  for the job they have been doing all along!

Not so fast; like all bureaucratically imagined solutions, this too has a catch. A very personal catch.

This current measure makes it possible for women to be recognized for the jobs they already do with the units they currently serve with, only now they can be treated as a fellow Soldier/Sailor/Marine, and not as a liability. The positions now opened to women are primarily placement factors, not new job descriptions or opportunities. The female medic who was once confined to the field hospital can now do what she does best–fix wounded warriors on the field of battle. More importantly, she can also be awarded a Combat Medic’s badge for her service. The female radio operator now doesn’t grudgingly accept that she will be stuck stuck as a glorified telephone operator on a large base at Brigade level–she can run the communications section for an artillery battery. Finally, those lucky few who have smashed a ceiling into certain jobs now know that they will be allowed to deploy and serve with their own teams, rather than being stripped from the roster and reassigned.

The military in particular has taken a long time to recognize women for what they can do, and what they have been doing. So few women have been awarded high awards (one Medal of Honor winner, anyone?) because awarding them would mean that someone would have to admit what any female in the military has known all along; women have served, are serving, and will continue to serve in direct combat roles, regardless of job description.  They decry a loss of physical and mental standards, without recognizing that there are women every day who meet the male standards of fitness and adaptability as a personal rule to themselves–that they will be every inch, every sit-up, every mile as good as or better than their male brothers in arms.

This is not to marginalize the small steps, of course; any progress, any inroad, leads us further down the path to true equality. This is indeed a start, but be forewarned that a military woman is a hard nut to crack, and we will not let it stop here. More must be made, more must be accepted, more must be done. It is not impossible. Perhaps by the time my daughter graduates, she will have every opportunity to truly ‘Be All That She Can Be.’