A Pentagon report showed that nearly 15,000 service members were sexually assaulted during the fiscal year 2016, which was one-fourth fewer than in 2014. It also revealed that 1 in 3 service members reported their assaults, which increased from 10 years ago when only 1 in 14 service members reported the crime.

The number of new female recruits has virtually doubled in the last two years. The SonntagsBlick newspaper reports that a record 250 women volunteered for service last year, up 35% from the previous year and practically double the 2015 numbers. “Interest in security issues among women has increased with the crises in Europe, in particular Ukraine,” Tibor Szvircsev Tresch, head of military sociology at the Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), told the newspaper.

Instead of "man in the street", it is suggested that military ranks might use "average citizen/person", and for "housewife" the guidance gives "shopper, homemaker". "Sportsmanship" and "mankind" are to be replaced with "fairness, good humour" and "humanity, humankind, human race, people" respectively.

“I want to be one of the females to prove to everybody else that just because you’re a female, doesn’t mean you can’t do the same things as a male,” she said, describing her brother — an infantry soldier — as motivation. “I also wanted to one-up him.”

Ms Rones claimed the debate about the physical differences between women and men is often led by emotions. "There is much more to a combat situation than pure physics," she said. “It's about understanding situations, being able to orient, being able to be part of a team and handling weapons. This makes women as good as men.”

At the height of the war in Afghanistan, coalition forces were at risk of being unable to gather vital information and intelligence from women in the towns and villages where they were operating. A solution came from female soldiers, who were sent into these communities as engagement teams - talking to local women who were unlikely to speak to their male colleagues. It was only one example of the benefits that diversity in the armed forces can bring. Yet the debate around whether women should serve tends to focus on physical strength, or gender equality, rather than whether they could actually make the military more effective.

"I want to be one of the females to prove to everybody else that just because you're a female, doesn't mean you can't do the same things as a male," she said, describing her brother — an infantry soldier — as motivation. "I also wanted to one-up him." Kirsten is among more than 80 women who have gone to recruit training at Fort Benning, Georgia, since a ban on them serving in combat jobs was lifted. Twenty-two have graduated. More than 30 were still in training late last month, working toward graduation. The recruits' last names are being withheld by The Associated Press because some women have faced bullying on social media.

“You know, no pressure,” she joked when her status was brought up. A few seconds later, her smile faded and she said: “I don’t want people to judge me on that.” Fontes would rather people focus on her work, which is vital to a mission that she believes is on the verge of unprecedented success, despite a history of setbacks.

“Right now, there are 10,000 women fighting life-or-death battles against ISIS for the liberation of women in the Middle East.” Among them is Hanna Bohman, a Canadian civilian who put her life on hold to join the fight. Her powerful story is being told in Fear Us Women, a new short documentary that offers “a most intimate look inside the brave female soldiers fighting one of the most dangerous wars on the planet”, and is now at the top of our must-see streaming list.

“The American people rightfully expect that those who wear the Wings of Gold exhibit a level of maturity commensurate with the missions and aircraft with which they’ve been entrusted,” said Shoemaker, who oversees naval air operations, in a statement released by the service. “Naval aviation continually strives to foster an environment of dignity and respect. Sophomoric and immature antics of a sexual nature have no place in Naval aviation today.”

"To me it's been very normal to be a female in this organization. I forget that some people might have any kind of issue because I haven't really encountered that."

Male service members give themselves high marks for treating women vets with respect, but they are also bitterly split on whether women should be eligible for any MOS. Only half of men in the IAVA poll supported full job equality for women; that’s more than in previous IAVA surveys, but still a whole lot lower than the 70% of women who said all combat MOSs should be open to anyone qualified, regardless of gender.