The decision to allow women to serve in combat has been met with both widespread support and criticism across the nation. Some echo President Barack Obama’s sentiments that it’s another step toward equality, further minimizing the segregation between genders which women’s rights activists have been railing against since the early 1900s. Others fear for the effectiveness of the U.S. military, saying women may prove to be more of a hindrance than an asset on the battlefield.

In a statement issued by Obama, the president explained the lifting of the ban is the next “step toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals of fairness and equality.”

However, San Diego State ROTC 1st Lt. Heather Adams points out how women have already been engaging in combat prior to the decision to lift the ban.

“With the war that we’re going through today, it’s kind of different; we don’t really have a frontline,” Adams said. “So you have women engaging in combat as it is, being in military police, going out in convoys. Even though they’re not in a combat unit, or a combat arms unit, they’re still engaging the enemy as if they were.”

Adams said the ROTC program – which includes units at SDSU, Point Loma Nazarene University, University of San Diego, University of California, San Diego and California State University, San Marcos – currently has approximately 45 female cadets.

Recruitment Operations Officer Major Richard  Cotte said the physical requirements prospective cadets must meet in order to sign a contract with ROTC are staggered according to both age and gender.

“It’s a totally different grading scale. Everybody has the same exercises that they have to do, but the points that are earned based on how many push-ups you do, how many sit-ups you do or how fast you run the two miles are graded differently by age category and by male or female.”

Adams said women have different physical training standards but she said there are some female cadets in the program who exceed the male standards.

“There’s a reason why they set those physical standards because that’s the strength required to safely and effectively be a part of that unit or conduct those missions,” Adams said. “But if a female can meet those standards, I don’t see why gender should be an issue.”

Adams added that people need to judge  the capabilities and characters of the person, not just form an opinion because of his or her gender.

“Anytime you break a status quo, people flip out,” said Adams. “You’re always going to have close-minded people and you can’t play into them.”