There will be new billets opened to Navy women as a result of assignment policy changes in the Department of Defense (DoD).

The policy changes, which will affect the assignment of Navy women to positions that were previously closed, will be implemented on May 14. This will result in the opening of an additional 14,325 positions to women across the Department of Defense; for the Navy, the policy changes will open 60 medical officer, chaplain, chief hospital corpsman and hospital corpsman first class positions for the assignment of women in Marine Corps ground combat element battalions.

These 60 positions which will be opened to women may be broken down as follows: 18 medical officer positions, 19 chaplain officer positions, and 23 chief and petty officer first class hospital corpsman positions.

Lt. Maura Betts, director of the Office of Women’s Policy, shared: “The Navy has always been committed to pursuing the elimination of gender-restricted policies where feasible while maintaining force readiness.”

At present, women are eligible for 95 percent of Navy billets. The remaining 5 percent, which are closed, include submarines for enlisted women, and SEALs, Riverine squadrons and Marine Corps support in compliance with direct ground combat rule.”

JoAnn Rooney, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, shared: “The secretary of defense has said this is the beginning, not the end, of a process… The department intends to continue to remove barriers that prevent service members from serving in any capacity in which they qualify.”