A Few Good Men and Women

When Ash Carter stood at the podium on December 3 to reveal the most profound social change in military policy in at least a half-century, he stood alone. Absent from the defense secretary’s announcement that all ground combat jobs were to be opened to women were the uniformed service chiefs and their civilian service secretaries, and especially conspicuous by his nonattendance was General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Carter’s military counterpart.