Gender barriers in the military have been around in order to protect women in the military, but a recent lift of those barriers has set a new precedent.

Students across campus have the cohesive positive mindset when it comes to this military ban being lifted.

“Its awesome, I have women in my family who have served and its a big accomplishment for every woman who has served this country,” Myra Vallejo, 19, undecided major, said. “I think it will give women even more opportunities in life and it gives hope for the future.”

Lifting this ban has not only made a way for future women to be seen as equal when it comes to being in the military alongside men but its a historic victory for those who came before them.

“Being equal to men especially in the military is a big deal and women are constantly fighting that battle,” Renee Petillo, 24, business major, said. “With this ban it sends a positive message to women and everyone else.

On Jan. 24, Leon E. Panetta, the former defense secretary lifted the ban on women serving in combat in the military. The previous ban on women serving in combat was made in 1994, this decision overturns the previous ban. While women have been involved in the military since 1775, though not as combat soldiers but as nurses, cooks, and even making the weapons for the male soldiers. Not until 1901 have women served in officially capacity in the armed forces of the military.

Women may be physically different than men but it doesn’t mean that they are any less capable of protecting themselves and this country. The previous law that banned women from combat was not only unfair but unrealistic. To deny women a right that a man has is nothing more than a double standard. There wouldnt be much of an effect in the military at least not negatively, if anything it will help in the country’s war efforts.

“I think that at first people will have to get used to the idea of women being there but I don’t think much would change in the military as far as how things operate,” Petillo said.

For women who had to disguise themselves as men in the Civil War and other wars it is a wonderful mark in history that women will be allowed to serve in combat officially. It has been a great fight for women that will continue until equal means equal in every sense of the word. This is giant step for women, the military and this country.