Female veterans denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech this week outlining his anti-woke military agenda, disputing his claims that standards were lowered to allow thousands of women in combat roles.
The big picture: Hegseth, who before joining the administration argued women shouldn't serve in combat roles, painted an image of a military that risked becoming less lethal in his Quantico address and vowed a "ruthless" application of fitness standards.
- But Elisa Cardnell, the president and CEO of the Service Women's Action Network, said in a statement that the "physical requirements for infantry school, special operations, or any other combat role are already gender-neutral."
Driving the news: Hegseth staged a TED-style speech, casting himself as the defender of troops in a "war on warriors," borrowing from the title of a book he released last year.
- The enemy waging that war, he suggested, is no foreign aggressor — but rather diversity and inclusion efforts and slipping standards.
- "I don't want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape or in combat units with females who can't meet the same combat arms physical standards as men," he said Tuesday, stating that combat arms standards were changed a decade ago to "ensure females could qualify."
- The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Axios' request to provide evidence of combat standards being lowered for women in 2015.
Yes, but: Federal law already prohibits separate standards for men and women in the same military role, according to The 19th.
- The military uses a general fitness test that adjusts for age and gender for anyone joining the armed forces. But every combat role has its own gender-neutral standard, Cardnell said.
Cardnell told Axios in a statement, the "physical qualifications for combat roles have never been lowered to allow women to serve in that capacity."
- "Conflating these two types of standards ignores the fact that combat roles have never had the qualifications lowered for women; all we have ever asked for is that an individual is able to serve in any capacity for which they are qualified," she said.
Catch up quick: In April, the Army unveiled sex-neutral but age-adjusted combat standards with the goal of increasing "the lethality of the force" and "warfighting readiness."
- New scoring for 21 combat specialties will take effect next year, per an Army press release.
- That replaces the Army Combat Fitness Test, introduced in 2022 with age- and gender-adjusted scoring scales.
Hegseth said Tuesday that "warfighters in combat jobs" must "execute their service fitness test at a gender-neutral, age-normed male standard scored above 70%."
- Although he said he was not aiming to prevent women from serving, if women can't meet the standards, then "it is what it is."
What they're saying: Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a former Navy helicopter pilot and candidate for New Jersey governor, responded, "Eliminating the current highly rigorous standards for women in combat positions has nothing to do with increasing lethality and everything to do with forcing women out of the Armed Forces."
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, called on Hegseth to resign and said his "claim that diversity is 'debris' erases the valor shown by women, people of color and many others" who served.
The other side: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), an Iraq War veteran who had expressed initial hesitancy over Hegseth's nomination, told the Associated Press she thought his comments were "appropriate" and that "there should be the same set of standards for combat arms."
Zoom out: Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot who challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for his seat in 2020, said in a video that there has "always been one standard" for combat jobs.
- For flying a fighter jet, as she did, she said there were never different standards determined by gender.
- "It's a slap in the face and offensive to suggest otherwise," she said.
State of play: Hegseth's overhaul of the Pentagon removed several women and people of color from the military's top ranks, including former Coast Guard commandant Adm. Linda Fagan and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown Jr.
- Last month, Hegseth axed the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, which offers guidelines to support female service members, in the advancement of "uniform, sex-neutral standards."
- Hegseth on Tuesday said it was an "insane fallacy" to say the military's diversity is its strength.
The bottom line: Cardnell told Axios that a "military drawn from the full spectrum of American talent is better equipped" to handle the complex threats in today's security environment.
- "The women who serve — from pilots and logisticians to cyber experts and infantry officers — are the embodiment of this enhanced readiness," she said.
Go deeper: Pentagon clarifies Secretary Hegseth's repost on women's right to vote
