“I can tell you during my deployment, there were missions that I-- volunteered for and was not allowed to go on, simply because I'm a woman,” Gabbard, D-Hawaii, tells Top Line. “They said, ‘Sorry, no. No girls allowed.’”

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“What we see in the policy change now…is just a reflection of what women have already been doing in the military,” she says. “And it'll now open those doors so that we can have women serving in positions of leadership and within units where previously they were not allowed.”

Gabbard also brings a first-hand perspective to the issue of sexual assault in the military, saying she “heard and saw incidents” of sexual assault within her military camp when she was in Iraq.

“We got issued rape whistles so that as we walk out of our tent or walk out of our hooch, we've got our body armor, we've got our helmet, our weapon, and we've got our rape whistle,” Gabbard recalls. “It was an eye-opening experience to have to consider that fact when we're serving overseas in Iraq and…this is a risk or a danger that exists.”