U.S. Service Women Through the Years

In this Oct. 7, 1944, file photo provided by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Women Army Corps (WAC) switchboard operators put military calls through at their base in France. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps)

In this Dec. 22, 1943, file photo, members of the Women Army Corps (WAC) stationed at a U.S. medium bomber station in England, ride bicycles on their way to work. (AP Photo, File)

In this Oct. 2, 1943, file photo, Marine Corps Women Reserves undergoing training at Camp Lejeune, New River, N.C., ride in a landing boat of the type that were used by the Marines in landing operations in the South Pacific. (AP Photo, File)

In this Sept. 11, 1943, file photo, Women Army Corps (WAC) soldiers unload supplies somewhere in North Africa. (AP Photo, File)

In this March 1947 file photo, a group of Women Army Corps (WAC) personnel pose in a Tokyo lounge. (AP Photo, File)

In this May 5, 1944 file photo, five members of the Women's Army Corps serving with the army service of supplies, salute an officer at a base in England. (AP Photo, File)

In this July 14, 1965, file photo, U.S. Army nurses Capt. Gladys E. Sepulveda, left, of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and 2nd Lt. Lois Ferrari, of Pittsburgh, Pa., rest on sandbags at Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. They two were waiting transportation to Nha Trang, to work in the 8th field hospital. (AP Photo, File)

In this Sept. 21, 1977, file photo, recruit Angelia Wingle, of Lyons Ga., shines her combat boot as she sits on a bunk in the barracks at Fort Jackson, S.C. (AP Photo/Lou Krasky)

In this Sunday, Sept. 3, 1990 file photo, U.S. Army Spec.Tanya Miller of New York., leans against a wall on an airbase in Saudi Arabia. Miller was in Saudi Arabia with the 101st Airborne Divsion in support of Operation Desert Shield. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)

In this Jan. 3, 1990 file photo, Capt. Linda L. Bray, 29, from Butner, N.C., with the 988th Military Police Company from Fort Benning, Ga., poses in the Army's Quarry Heights base in Panama City, Panama. Bray led 30 MPs in an attack on Panamanian Defense Forces kennels the night of the American invasion, resulting in intense combat with PDF soldiers and a cache of weapons captured. She is the first woman to lead U.S. troops into battle. In 1991 she resigned her commission after an Army investigation questioned her report of the battle. (AP Photo, File)

In this Jan. 31, 2005, file photo, Army Major Tammy Duckworth rolls herself up during physical therapy at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Duckworth lost both legs when the helicopter she was in was struck by a rocket- propelled grenade during a mission near Baghdad on Nov. 12, 2004. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Michael Chow)

This Thursday, March 20, 2008, photo provided by the US Army shows Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, who received a silver star at an award ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Brown is the second female since World War II to earn the Silver Star award for her actions while in combat. (AP Photo/US Army, Spc. Micah E. Clare)

In this Sunday, April 12, 2009, file photo, an Iraqi woman is searched by a female U.S. soldier before reuniting with her husband, who was among 32 men released from U.S. military detention at Camp Bucca to their families in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

In this Aug. 10, 2009 file photo, U.S. Marine Female Engagement Team members Lance Cpl. Mary Shloss, right, of Hammond, Ind., Sgt. Monica Perez,, center, of San Diego, Calif. and Cpl. Kelsey Rossetti, of Derry, N.H. wait for the signal to begin their patrol in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

In this a May 9, 2012 file photo, Capt. Sara Rodriguez, 26, of the 101st Airborne Division, carries a litter of sandbags during the Expert Field Medical Badge training at Fort Campbell, Ky. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2012 file photo, female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan. Women served and died on the nation's battlefields from the first. They were nurses and cooks, spies and couriers in the Revolutionary War. Some disguised themselves as men to fight for the Union or the Confederacy. Yet the U.S. military's official acceptance of women in combat took more than two centuries. New roles for females were doled out fitfully _ whenever commanders got in a bind and realized they needed women's help. A look at milestones on the way to lifting the ban on women in ground combat. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)