Vermont becomes first state to allow women to enlist in all Army National Guard combat roles

BURLINGTON, Vt. – All combat units in the Vermont Army National Guard are now open to women — the first such policy in the U.S., Vermont's National Guard announced Wednesday.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the inclusion of women in our units makes us a more effective fighting force,” said Col. Brey Hopkins, commander, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, in a news release.

Previous guidelines allowed women to transfer, but not enlist, into combat roles, according to the release.

Authorization for the change required all Vermont units to install women into leadership roles, as well as complete "gender integration" training and demonstrate a "healthy unit culture," it added.

Adding the ability to recruit women into combat units took several years — "a momentous achievement," wrote Brig. Gen. James Pabis, the Army Guard's assistant adjutant general.

Efforts will continue "to cultivate diversity and inclusion throughout the organization," the announcement added.

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The Guard has been increasingly candid about the need to recruit more women since early 2019, when newly appointed adjutant general of the Guard, Maj. Gen. Greg Knight, acknowledged that sexism in the Guard has turned some women away and kept others from climbing the ladder.

"We want to make more women leaders," he told the Free Press in an interview. "But I need more women to join."

Follow Joel Banner Baird on Twitter: @VTgoingUp.