Women still a minority in the military

As of March, there were 1.387 million people on active duty in the U.S. Military and approximately 204,800 -- about 15% -- were women, according to the Department of Defense.

About 42,000 women serve in the Army Reserve -- 21% of the Reserve's total strength. About 9,000 of its 205,000 jobs are currently coded "male only," typically jobs in combat engineering, military intelligence and civil affairs, explained Lt. Col. Matt Lawrence, public information chief for the Army Reserve Command.

As the jobs open to women, the Reserve is attempting to add "cohorts of women" to ease integration, he explained.

"There's strength in numbers -- we're definitely not trying to set anyone up" to fail, he said. Lawrence noted many stereotypically male jobs are already equal opportunity: "We've got women Apache helicopter pilots."

While some have speculated that the shattering of formal gender barriers will increase the military's appeal as a career prospect to females, Lawrence said such concerns were rarely voiced by prospective recruits. Applicants' main concern, he said, is "am I going to be deployed?"