United States History has clearly shown how women have long fought the battle of gender discrimination while serving their country. The question yet to be answered is will there always be an element of discrimination towards women serving in the United States Military? Based on the information researched in this paper, the future of the US Military will most likely be comprised of male and female troops who can choose any job in the military based on their abilities and not based on their gender. Issues of gender discrimination such as women's physical strength, unit cohesion and sexual harassment will likely be no longer tolerated in the military and be viewed as simply a historical issue. We must look back at the United States' military history to understand how women got where they are now in the United States Military. Women have played a crucial role in the US military since it fought its first major battle in the American Revolution. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), although women were not serving as soldiers in the battlefield, they played a pivotal role as nurses, cooks and laundresses. During the Civil War (1861-1865), women would often disguise themselves as men in order to serve as both Union and Confederate troops and women also provided much needed medical care at field hospitals for wounded service members (Highlights in the History of Military Women, pg. 1). The turning point for women occurred during WWI (1917-1918), when new opportunities were given to women that would slowly decrease the gender gap between male and female service members. The Army Nurse Corps and the Navy Nurse Corps were established and, 21,480 military nurses served in hospitals in both the United States and overseas. Hundreds of women died while serving in the military during this time. Most of these deaths occurred due to the Spanish Flu (Highlights in the History of Military Women, pg. 2). WWII began (1941-1945), and more than 60,000 military nurses were serving in the US Armed Services at the start of WWII. As the numbers of women serving grew, the US Army decided to establish the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942, and in 1943 it received the title the Women's Army Corps (WAC). 150,000 WAC women were sent overseas to the European and Asian Theaters of Operations to support the US Military during WWII, by serving as pilots, nurses, communication specialists, clerks, cooks, mechanics, drivers and several other support positions (Highlights in the History of Military Women, pg. 3). During the 1950's, when the nuclear family was something everyone seemed to strive to be a part of, some women chose a different path for their lives. By the time, the Korean War began (1950-1953), more than 500 women were assigned to large hospitals in Japan and several more women were sent to the combat zone in the Korean Theater of War. When the Vietnam War began (1965-1975), about 7,000 American women were sent to Southeast Asia to serve as nurses and combat support personnel for the US Military Forces. Nearly a dozen of these women died while serving their country during the Vietnam War (Highlights in the History of Military Women pg. 4). By the mid-1970's, women's presence in the military was more accepted among the general US population. In 1973, The Supreme Court granted women post housing, benefits and privileges such as medical, commissary and the Post Exchange (PX) for their non-military spouse and children. Until this decision, only male soldiers and their families were given these benefits and privileges.