By Justin Moyer The Washington Post — Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta signed an order Thursday allowing women the same
opportunities as men to serve in combat, including formerly off-
limits assignments on attack submarines and in the Navy SEALs.
Just two weeks before the announcement, researchers from San
Diego's Naval Health Research Center published a study
suggesting that some recent mothers deployed on the battlefield
may be more prone to depression after seeing action. "Women who
deploy and report combat-associated exposures after childbirth
are significantly more likely to screen positive for maternal
depression than are women who did not deploy after childbirth,"
concluded the study, titled "Is Military Deployment a Risk
Factor for Maternal Depression?" and appearing in the Journal of
Women's Health. "It is also possible," the report noted, "that
giving birth and leaving a young child, in addition to the
experience of combat, contribute to postdeployment depression."
The study included eight co-authors,