Photograph by John D McHugh/Reportage by Getty Images

U.S. medics from Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion 82nd Aviation, General Supprot Aviation Battalion, tend to two Afghan women on a Blackhawk UH-60 helicopter as they fly to Bagram Air Field, from Parwan province, Afghanistan.

Written with David Lerman

With word that the Pentagon is lifting a ban on women serving in direct combat roles, women who have served in the military — including some who have come home with Purple Hearts — are hailing “a historic day.”

About 15 percent of all who serve in active duty in the armed forces are female, and some have played supporting combat roles — in combat helicopters, warplanes and on the ground.

“Today is a historic day for not only women currently serving in our armed forces, but for all of the women who have selflessly put their lives on the line in theaters of war throughout our nation’s history,” says Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a first-term member of Congress from Hawaii who has served two tours of duty in Iraq. “Female service members have contributed on the battlefield as far back as the Civil War, when some disguised themselves as men just to have the opportunity to serve their nation.”

Newly elected Rep. Tammy Duckworth, from Illinois, was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, among the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq. On Nov. 12, 2004, when her helicopter was hit by an RPG, she lost both of her legs.

Women have increasingly been exposed to combat as the traditional front lines of battle have become blurred in an age of terrorism and unconventional warfare. Women also fly combat aircraft, including helicopters and carrier-based Navy fighters, and the Navy has begun assigning women to duty on submarines. At least 144 female troops have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and more than 860 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

The action means “qualified women will have the same chance to distinguish themselves in combat as their brothers in arms, which they actually already have been doing with valor and distinction,” Ariela Migdal, senior staff attorney for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s move, which he plans to discuss with reporters tomorrow at the Pentagon, will be one of his final initiatives before his planned retirement. It removes one controversy from the agenda that former Senator Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Pentagon, would have to face if he wins Senate confirmation.

Original post is Women in Combat: Reality Catches Up by Political Capital.

Photograph by Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, right, with state Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson, as they react to the Supreme Court ruling that has upheld the Affordable Care Act, on June 28, 2012, at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix.

Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat who won a squeaker in the Nov. 6 election for an open U.S. House seat in Arizona, already has gained attention because when she gets sworn into office in early January, she will become the first openly bisexual member of Congress.

Turns out she will notch a second breakthrough.

According to a report released today by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the 36-year-old Sinema will be the first U.S. lawmaker to specify ”none” when asked for a religious affiliation (others before her have simply left blank that question).

The Pew report details other notable faith-related aspects of the next congressional session, including a couple spotlighted previously on Political Capital by our colleague Mark Silva.

Hawaii, already having produced the first black elected — and now re-elected — to the White House (“birthers” and Donald Trump notwithstanding), continues to lead the way in diversifying the nation’s political leadership by sending to Capitol Hill the first Buddhist senator and the first Hindu to serve in either congressional chamber.

The Buddhist is Mazie Hirono, 65, who had been serving in the House. Replacing her in that chamber is the Hindu, Tulsi Gabbard, 31.

Gabbard — like Hirono a Democrat — almost shared her distinction, according to a Pew report footnote. Ami Bera, 47, a Democrat who narrowly unseated Republican incumbent Dan Lungren in a California House race, was raised Hindu but now identifies his faith as Unitarian Universalist. He’ll be the sole member of that group in the next Congress, Pew says.

In terms of representation in the next Congress of America’s predominant religions, Pew finds that “69% of congressional Republicans are Protestant, while fewer than half of Democrats (43%) belong to Protestant denominational families. … Catholics make up a greater share of Democratic members (36%) than they do of GOP members (25%). And while Jews make up 12% of all congressional Democrats (including one independent who generally caucuses with the Democrats, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont), they account for less than 1% of congressional Republicans.”

The exhaustive report can be perused here.

Original post is First Openly Bisexual Congress Member Will Record Another First by Political Capital.

Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg

This day celebrates the triumph of truth over untruth, of righteousness over wrong.

So notes Rep.-elect  Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who will be the first Hindu member of Congress.

Today she offers wishes for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

Hawaii made more history on Election Day: also electing Mazie Hirono, the first Buddhist senator.

The two are Democrats.

Gabbard, 31, was born in American Samoa, and when she was two her family moved to Hawaii.  She served on the Honolulu City Council and in 2006 was elected to the Hawaii Legislature. She  left to serve with the National Guard’s 29th Brigade as a medical operations specialist deployed in Iraq. In 2006, Gabbard went to Washington to serve as a legislative aide to Sen. Daniel Akaka, who is retiring.

Today is Diwali, Gabbard notes in this video honoring the holiday.

“True happiness comes from working in service to others,” she explains. The deeper meaning of Diwali “could not come at a more appropriate time.  As we put the campaigns and election year behind us, it’s time now for us all to come together.”

Original post is First Hindu Elected to Congress: Happy Diwali Today by Political Capital.