RENO, NV -- For the first time, About two hundred and thirty thousand American  military posts are now open – to women.

“Welcome to the twenty first century where women are given opportunities that men were. I think it’s awesome.”  Last week, the United States lifted its ban of women in combat roles in the military and Warrant Officer Candidate Cassidy Hollowell thinks it’s about time.  “I thought it would never happen,” says Hollowell. “I mean, they preach about how everything is equal opportunity and I think now it’s finally here.”

Hollowell starts flight school on Monday in Alabama, where, for two years, she will be in training to become a pilot, a job that has no restrictions to females in the Army. She says because her path is already paved, she will not be taking advantage of the change but says she might have if it happened several years earlier.  “Say I was leaving for basic training tomorrow and I was picking a job, now I would be able to choose that job of being on the front line,” says Hollowell.

Chief Warrant Officer Kathryn Anderson is a pilot, flying a Light Utility Helicopter-72 Lakota.  She feels neutral on yesterday’s ruling because she says her mentality is to work based on your level of training.  “It works just like a civilian job,” says Anderson. “If you have those abilities, we're not thinking about what status the ground is in, I’m thinking, can I help that person? Do I have the ability? Do I have the training?”

Anderson was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait in 2003, where she worked as a Troposcatter, otherwise known by its nickname, ‘Cable Dog.’  “We’re thinking about the need of the people and what the actual small mission goal is,” says Anderson.  She cannot work a hoist for rescue situations but its only because she has not put in those training hours yet, not because she is a woman.