Hegseth signing memo on gender-neutral combat fitness

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth poked the bear this week with a huge announcement regarding women in our military.

Hegseth announced that the Pentagon will be going to a single-standard test for combat fitness, and I would imagine the left will be looking for his scalp over this.

Ban lifted

In 1994, the Clinton administration implemented a “Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule” that banned women from being assigned to ground combat units below brigade level.

That rule was lifted under Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, who, at the time, stated, “Everyone is entitled to a chance.”

He continued that this was necessary to ensure the future success of our military, stating, "One of my priorities as secretary of defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform.

"Women are already contributing in unprecedented ways to the mission ... they have become an integral part of our ability to perform our mission."

The fitness standard

In 2015, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter insisted that women would still have to prove they belonged on the battlefield.

Carter stated, "As long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before.

"They'll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat."

In 2022, fitness standards for women and older active-duty troops were relaxed to allow them to remain in the military, with adjustments made to their annual fitness tests. That, to my knowledge, did not impact combat fitness tests.

Hegseth New Memo

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth needed to make a splash because he has been reeling since #SignalGate, and he did just that with this new order. Hegseth stated, "For far too long, we allowed standards to slip, and different standards for men and women in combat arms MOS's and jobs. That's not acceptable.

"We need to have the same standards – male or female – in our combat roles to ensure our men and women who are under our leaders and in those formations have the best possible leaders and the highest possible standards that are not based at all on your sex.”

His memo, in part, stated, "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. In establishing those standards, the Secretaries of the Military Departments may not establish standards that would result in any existing Service member being held to a lower standard.”

I agree with there being one standard, and I don’t think the annual fitness exam should be lowered to accommodate anyone. You can either do the job or you cannot. Having said that, Hegseth needs to clear up the record regarding fitness tests because if there were not different standards, or the standards had not been lowered to accommodate women in combat, this is going to blow up right in his face.