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Jobs that were traditionally open only to male members of the U.S. Armed Forces are now open to women — but it took 378 years for the military to change the way it does business.

The first militias in the New World began organizing in 1636, and men were the only ones who served. Even after June 14, 1775, the official “birthday” of the U.S. Army, the military denied women the opportunity to enlist. However, females sometimes traveled with the troops to act as nurses, laundresses, and cooks if they could prove their usefulness to troop commanders.

History occasionally reveals a woman who disguised herself as a man to join the fight between 1776 and 1948. (During the Civil War, a nominal number of females served as spies while others continued to fight on the front lines disguised as men.)

Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act on June 12, 1948, which gave women the right to enlist during peacetime and to collect veteran benefits.

Sixty-seven years later, on December 3, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter ordered the full integration of women in the Armed Forces. Under that order, all military occupational specialties are now open to women — including ground combat roles and special operations, such as Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and Air Force Special Tactics.

New, gender-neutral job titles replaced traditional titles such as “artilleryman” and “reconnaissance man.” Now those jobs are referred to as artillery technician and reconnaissance Marine.

Enlistment programs are subject to change without notice based on the current recruiting needs of the service. Your recruiter can give you the most up-to-date information.

If you don’t know which kind of job you want to do in the military, the ASVAB helps you and the military determine your potential ability for different types of jobs. If you’re in this situation, review all the chapters in this book, brushing up on the basic principles of everything from science to electronics, but focus on the four subtests that enable you to qualify for enlistment: Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning, and Mathematics Knowledge. Following this plan ensures a relatively accurate appraisal of your aptitude for various military jobs.