In this report, I will present the information I've discovered concerning whether
             allowing women to serve in combat units will reduce a units effectiveness. Women in
             today's military serve in more jobs and constitute the largest percent of women in the
             military then ever before. Four years ago women only made up 12 percent of the military,
             this has climbed from 1.6 percent in 1973 (Armed Forces and Society, 1996, p. 17). They
             also hold more jobs than ever before. In 1991, congress passed an amendment which
             allowed women to fly fixed wing and rotary wing combat aircraft in the military (Harvard
             International Review, 1992, 52). The military has also opened more combat support jobs
             in an effort to get more women to join the military. Virtually every job is open to women
             in the military; infantry, submarines, and artillery are the only ones that are still off limits
             (Congressional Quarterly Weekly, 1996, p. 368).
             First, let me explain the distinction between combat support units and direct
             combat units. The military changed its definition of direct combat for women. This opened
             up more jobs for women that had been off-limits (Congressional Quarterly Researcher,
             1992, p. 844). The performance of women in these positions was tested during the Gulf
             War. For the first time, American women flew combat missions and directly supported
             infantry units (Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy, 1991, p. 200). Many times they
             were exposed to live fire, consequentially 13 were killed (Congressional Quarterly
             Weekly, 1992, p. 842). However, women were never considered to be in direct
             combat. The military's current combat exclusion policy states that women are prohibited
             from serving in positions that are "engaging an enemy with individual or crew-served
             weapons while being exposed to direct fire, a high probability or direct physical contact
             with the enemy's personnel, and a substantial risk of capture" (...