In 1994, then Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin signed a ban that excluded women from land combat units. He added a restriction stating women could not serve "where units and positions are doctrinally required to physically co-locate and remain with direct ground combat units that are closed to women." Direct combat was 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 forces personnel." This being stated, it can be an ethical debate as to whether or not women in the military should be deployed to Iraq.

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