[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1928 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1928

  To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the ground combat 
        exclusion policy for female members of the Armed Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 13, 2011

Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California introduced the following bill; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the ground combat 
        exclusion policy for female members of the Armed Forces.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Women's Fair and Equal Right to 
Military Service Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) 260,457 female members of the Armed Forces have served 
        in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, or 
        Operation New Dawn.
            (2) 25,099 female members of the Armed Forces are currently 
        serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
            (3) Women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are not excluded 
        from providing support to combat units or other frontline 
        units.
            (4) As of April 1, 2011, 137 female members of the Armed 
        Forces have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, and, of the 
        women killed, over 60 were killed in combat.
            (5) More than 1,300 female members of the Armed Forces have 
        been wounded in action, of which 758 were wounded in hostile 
        action.
            (6) The current nature of war has changed in Iraq and 
        Afghanistan and, despite the prohibition on female members of 
        the Armed Forces serving in combat, so has the role of female 
        members of the Armed Forces.
            (7) Women are increasingly attached to combat units and 
        engaging in frontline roles despite the current ground combat 
        exclusion policy.
            (8) Female members of the Armed Forces are engaging in 
        direct combat without receiving adequate combat training due to 
        the current ground combat exclusion policy described in current 
        section 652 of title 10, United States Code.
            (9) The Secretaries of the military departments should be 
        given the authorization to assign an eligible member of an 
        armed force under the jurisdiction of that Secretary to a unit 
        of that armed force based on the needs of the unit, regardless 
        of the member's gender.
            (10) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has stated that 
        women have been serving in combat already and female members of 
        the Armed Services have expressed that because they're not in a 
        combat military occupational specialty, they haven't had combat 
        training, but they're on a combat patrol.
    (b) Purpose.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to ensure that modern military combat policies reflect 
        the current operational environment of the combat operations; 
        and
            (2) to raise the profile of the recognition that female 
        members of the Armed Forces should receive for their service, 
        particularly when it involves their contribution with regard to 
        direct combat operations.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF GROUND COMBAT EXCLUSION POLICY FOR FEMALE MEMBERS OF 
              THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) Repeal.--
            (1) Repeal.--Section 652 of title 10, United States Code, 
        is repealed.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of chapter 37 of such title is amended by striking 
        the item relating to section 652.
    (b) Revision of Current Military Personnel Policies.--
            (1) Revision.--The Secretary of Defense shall revise the 
        military personnel policies of the Department of Defense and 
        the military departments so that such policies do not restrict 
        members of the Armed Forces from assignment to units and 
        positions based on gender.
            (2) Notice and wait.--Any change in a military personnel 
        policy that would exclude based on gender shall not take effect 
        until--
                    (A) the Secretary of Defense submits to the 
                Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of 
                Representatives a notice of the intent to make the 
                change; and
                    (B) a period of 30 legislative days has expired 
                following the date on which the notice is received by 
                the committees.
            (3) Legislative day defined.--In this subsection, term 
        ``legislative day'' means a day on which either House of 
        Congress is in session.
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