Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo Monday ordering women and men to fulfill the identical bodily health necessities in the event that they need to serve in fight roles, saying the Pentagon had “allowed standards to slip.”
“Different standards for men and women in combat arms, MOS and jobs, that’s not acceptable,” Hegseth mentioned in a video posted to X, utilizing the abbreviation for “military occupational specialty,” or job sort.
“We have to have the same standard — male or female — in our combat roles to ensure our men and women who are under our leaders, or in those formations, have the best possible leaders and the highest possible standards that are not based at all on your sex.”
The memo, which orders the navy branches to “develop comprehensive plans to distinguish combat arms occupations from non-combat arms occupations,” specifies in hand-underlined textual content that the soon-to-be developed requirements should not “result in any existing service member being held to a lower standard.”
“All entry-level and sustained physical fitness requirements within combat arms positions must be sex-neutral, based solely on the operational demands of the occupation and the readiness needed to confront any adversary,” Hegseth wrote.
“The effort will ensure combat standards are clear, mission-focused and reflective of the unique physical demands placed on our service members in various roles,” his memo added.
The memo additionally laid out what sorts of requirements all troops in floor fight, particular operations or “specialized” roles reminiscent of explosive ordnance disposal technician should match.
For instance, Hegseth’s steering says troops on the frontlines ought to be capable of “carry heavy loads, endure prolonged physical exertion and perform effectively in austere, hostile environments.”
“Service members in these roles must exhibit speed, strength, agility and endurance to navigate the demands of combat situations,” the doc reads.
Service secretaries now have 60 days to submit their proposed combat-role requirements to Hegseth, and navy branches will then be required to implement the adjustments inside six months.
“Soon we will have nothing but the highest standards for men and women in combat,” the secretary mentioned.
Hegseth has repeatedly commented on the difficulty of ladies in fight earlier than he was nominated to steer the Pentagon. On Nov. 7, the ex-Fox Information character advised podcaster Shawn Ryan he “straight up” believed “we should not have women in combat roles.”
“It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, [and] has made fighting more complicated,” he mentioned on the time.
Nonetheless, Hegseth later softened his opinion to say that each women and men might serve in fight roles as long as they met the identical bodily requirements.
