I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1928 
To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the ground combat exclusion 
policy for female members of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 13, 2011 
Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the ground 
combat exclusion policy for female members of the 
Armed Forces. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Fair and 
Equal Right to Military Service Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) 260,457 female members of the Armed 
Forces have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Op-
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eration Enduring Freedom, or Operation New 
Dawn. 
(2) 25,099 female members of the Armed 
Forces are currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. 
(3) Women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are 
not excluded from providing support to combat units 
or other frontline units. 
(4) As of April 1, 2011, 137 female members 
of the Armed Forces have been killed in Iraq or Af-
ghanistan, and, of the women killed, over 60 were 
killed in combat. 
(5) More than 1,300 female members of the 
Armed Forces have been wounded in action, of 
which 758 were wounded in hostile action. 
(6) The current nature of war has changed in 
Iraq and Afghanistan and, despite the prohibition on 
female members of the Armed Forces serving in 
combat, so has the role of female members of the 
Armed Forces. 
(7) Women are increasingly attached to combat 
units and engaging in frontline roles despite the cur-
rent ground combat exclusion policy. 
(8) Female members of the Armed Forces are 
engaging in direct combat without receiving ade-
quate combat training due to the current ground 
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SEC. 3. REPEAL OF GROUND COMBAT EXCLUSION POLICY 
FOR FEMALE MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 
FORCES. 
(a) REPEAL.— 
(1) REPEAL.—Section 652 of title 10, United 
States Code, is repealed. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 37 of such title is 
amended by striking the item relating to section 
652. 
(b) REVISION OF CURRENT MILITARY PERSONNEL 
POLICIES.— 
(1) REVISION.—The Secretary of Defense shall 
revise the military personnel policies of the Depart-
ment of Defense and the military departments so 
that such policies do not restrict members of the 
Armed Forces from assignment to units and posi-
tions based on gender. 
(2) NOTICE AND WAIT.—Any change in a mili-
tary personnel policy that would exclude based on 
gender shall not take effect until— 
(A) the Secretary of Defense submits to 
the Committees on Armed Services of the Sen-
ate and House of Representatives a notice of 
the intent to make the change; and 
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(B) a period of 30 legislative days has ex-
pired following the date on which the notice is 
received by the committees. 
(3) LEGISLATIVE DAY DEFINED.—In this sub-
section, term ‘‘legislative day’’ means a day on which 
either House of Congress is in session. 
Æ 
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