Chilean military puts on a new face

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SANTIAGO, Chile -- Heads high, they march in awkward sync as their parents look on proudly.

It's Day One of military service for these recruits in the Chilean army. Decked out for the last time in civilian skirts and blazers, high heels clunking on the pavement, these women know it will be a year of huge change for them and for the military units they are joining.

This is only the second year that female recruits have been allowed into the Chilean army to serve as real soldiers. Women have had limited roles for the past nine years, but they have made major inroads in the past two.

One in five new officers in training is female, an impressive statistic on a continent where many countries still don't allow women into the armed forces.

"Today, we have the same rights as our male counterparts," said Lt. Viviana Chamorro, one of the first women to train as an officer nine years ago. "We can now use all weaponry and have no disadvantages at any level."

This opening for women coincides with a transformation of the military.

Around the world, the Chilean military still evokes images of fear. It became infamous during the 17-year military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and Chilean exiles have made sure that the world doesn't forget the killings, torture and human rights abuses of that time.

Leftist governments have been trying to polish the country's tarnished image since the end of military rule in 1990, but the push to modernize Chile's military has intensified.

In the past year, Chilean troops embarked on peacekeeping missions to places such as Bosnia, Cyprus and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In March, Chile jumped at the chance to serve in Haiti, its first peacemaking mission -- the term for Chapter 7, armed U.N. operations in which international forces impose peace, not just preserve it. Within 48 hours, Chile had 330 troops on the move in its largest foreign deployment since the 19th century.