Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey will officially announce the end of the military's ban on women serving in combat roles at a Pentagon press conference on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
The change in policy, which was reported earlier this week, has the potential to open more than 230,000 jobs that had previously been closed to women.
The decision overturns a 1994 ban on female service members in small combat units. Military services will have until 2016 to request special exceptions for positions they think should remain closed to women, according to The Associated Press.
Read more on The Hill's DEFCON Hill blog.
