Women Wait For Combat Assignments In MN National Guard

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The women who make up 16 percent of the Minnesota National Guard are waiting to see if they'll be assigned to combat units.

With the Pentagon lifting the ban on women serving in combat, units like Minnesota's famed Red Bulls division will begin integrating female soldiers.

"I think some people are just afraid of the unknown. Afraid of what's going to happen," Staff Sgt. Andrea Drost said.

Drost said she isn't afraid. She's been a member of the guard for more than 8 years and served in Iraq.

"I will face whatever challenge they place in front of me," she said. "And if it means another deployment that's what it means."

The possibility of being assigned to a combat unit has made Drost, who's expecting her first child, philosophical.

"I love that now I can look at this little girl when she's born and say: 'You can be a ballerina or you can be a field artillery man,'" she said.