Last week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the US military’s official ban on women in combat positions would be lifted. According to the Defense Department, there are currently around 238,000 positions in the military unavailable to women, and with the lifting of the ban many of those spots are going to be opened for women to apply.

According to Panetta, “If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job – and let me be clear, we are not reducing qualifications – then they should have the right to serve.” The pronouncement comes as another historic decision under Panetta’s leadership, as he was a key player in repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2011.

Obviously, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” wasn’t without critics, and neither is Panetta’s most recent choice to open up more combat positions to women. Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark), a veteran, told a radio host. “To have women serving in infantry could impair the mission’s central task in those units. That’s been proved in study after study just as a matter of nature.”

John Piper, a mega-church minister from Minnesota, has written on his blog that coed combat is “cultural cowardice,” writing that “A man who endorses women in combat is not pro-woman; he’s a wimp.”

Wayne State U. law professor, Kingsley Browne, published a book about the issue titled “Co-ed Combat: The New Evidence That Women Shouldn’t Fight the Nation’s Wars.” Browne believes women shouldn’t be allowed to be involved in combat positions, because they aren’t as physically fit as men, as well as because women being mixed with men in combat situations might cultivate more situations of sexual harassment.

What Panetta – and countless other proponents of military equality – has fought for is a new, inclusive, American military. The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the lifting of the combat ban represent the military taking steps to offer the type of equality for which America should be known.

If there is one lesson America should have learned by now, it’s that a lack of diversity is not ideal for decision-making, and authority without diversity is a recipe for oppression and stupidity. One only has to recall President Obama’s mention of Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall in his second Inaugural Address to dwell on the poor, exclusive, and dominating decisions the country has made without different voices offering advice.

While effective and courageous, our nation’s military has earned a controversial reputation. The military has often asked the nation to take a “don’t ask; we don’t want to tell” approach to its politics and problems.

The 2012 Oscar-nominated documentary “The Invisible War” sheds light on the rampant sexual abuse in the armed forces. According to the film, the Department of Defense estimates that over 19,000 instances of sexual abuse happened in 2010, and 20 percent of women in the military will be sexually assaulted. And while the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was a big step in policy for gay military equality, documented harassment still occurs in the ranks of the armed forces.

The most important impact of the lift of the combat ban is that combat duty and experience are necessary for women to advance and be promoted in military leadership. Therefore, allowing women to apply for more combat-intense positions will increase the chance for diversity in military authority, adding important voices to the conversation of what our country will do and where our country will go.

With North Korea testing nuclear missiles, controversy over the use of both foreign and domestic drones and intervention in the Arab world always on the table, more women in the military will be better for the country.

Besides being of pragmatic benefit, increased opportunities for women in the military helps realize part of the American experiment and aids America in becoming the exceptional country it so desperately wants to be.

In the past, there has been a notion that military presence and power make America great, but in a 21st century in which both methods of warfare and ideas about equality have changed, giving women the same opportunities as men should make all Americans proud.

We cannot afford to be contrary to cultural changes due to outdated conceptions of gender and bravery, and we cannot shy away from breaking down barriers just because the systems set in place to protect against sexual abuse aren’t solid. Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall were all leaps in American progress, but occurred amidst controversy, bigotry and violence.

We should be proud women want to protect and serve, and in response we should applaud and protect their thriving in military ranks.