(Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)

Qayara Airfield West, Iraq, March 17, 2017: Pfc. Alexandria Campbell helps Sgt. Brandon Bush and Pfc. Shayne Jensen install a .50-caliber machine gun on the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station atop a mine-resistant vehicle on Qayara Airfield West. In December 2015 then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced a decision to open all military jobs to women. Plans for this were finalized for all services in March 2016, right in time for Women’s History Month.

Read Chad Garland’s 2017 article looking at the role of women in the military a year after the decision here. https://www.stripes.com/female-troops-in-iraq-focus-on-the-job-not-our-gender-1.459794