I've argued this elsewhere - nobody can persuade me that a ship or aircraft under attack is not a direct combat position - the thing is that the Army do not actively commit women to direct combat roles.

I've described the difference between a combat unit role and a direct combat role as the difference between serving in a combat unit and trading lead at five paces.

In my WW IV/Fem War series, women are in direct combat roles and hold many of the top spots.... I'm no misogynist - just an anti-feminist  - huge difference.

Fem War II/WW IV is about a feminist lead breakaway Western States of the United States taking on the United States, and how that develops into a world war in which transport etc is very much limited by a lack of petroleum - a very real issue.

One of my female characters is actually the President of the United States at the time of war outbreak, and she resigns to sign up as a grunt to avenge her brother killed in the first surprise attacks...

Very anti-feminist and coupled with projections of what a future war might be like... with the primary movers of masses of troops and equipment being the railroads once more - running on non-petroleum fuels.