Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military will impose the “highest” male standards for all combat roles during a speech on Tuesday morning.
“At my direction, each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS [military occupational specialty], for every designated combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only, because this job is life or death, standards must be met, and not just met—at every level, we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete,” Hegseth said at the event with U.S. military leaders in Quantico, Virginia.
“It’s common sense and core to who we are and what we do. It should be in our DNA.”
Why It Matters
If the new standards are implemented, fewer women will be able to serve in combat roles.
Hegseth was vocal in his opposition to women serving in combat roles before he joined the Trump administration. During his confirmation process, however, Hegseth said that he would still support women serving in all roles in the military, despite his previous statements.
What To Know
Hegseth said the new standards for combat roles will ensure that only the best and strongest men and women make the cut.
“If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is,” Hegseth said. “It will also mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”
As part of his speech announcement on Tuesday, Hegseth said the U.S. military will also add a combat field test for combat arms units that “must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment.”
“These tests that look familiar, they’ll resemble the Army Expert Physical Fitness Assessment or the Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test,” Hegseth said.
Warfighters in combat jobs will also have to perform their service fitness test at a gender-neutral age norm, with the male standard scored above 70 percent.
All service members will be required to take the physical assessment twice a year, regardless of rank, Hegseth said, in addition to meeting weight and height requirements yearly.
What Are the Current Standards for Combat?
Every branch of the U.S. military has slightly different expectations for combat readiness.
Army
To pass the U.S. Army’s combat readiness standards, soldiers must pass the Army Combat Fitness Test, which includes deadlifts, a two-mile run and a plank, among other requirements.
Soldiers are judged based on age and gender, with minimum standards for each event. Army service members also must be free of non-deployable medical conditions.
Navy
The U.S. Navy employs similar requirements, implementing a Physical Readiness Test that looks at forearm plank, pushups and 1.5-mile run scores. Navy service members must also meet specific height, weight, and body fat standards based on their gender.
Marines
U.S. Marines undergo a similar process, which includes weight and height standards, as well as body fat tests if necessary.
For a 5’10″ man, the maximum weight would be set at 191 pounds, for example.
Air Force
In the U.S. Air Force, soldiers are evaluated based on age and gender, and they must pass the annual Air Force Fitness Assessment. That includes an aerobic, strength, and core portion, including tests that assess timed runs, push-ups, and sit-ups.
Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard members must possess “operational fitness,” but this is not currently standardized through a yearly fitness test. Recruits and certain jobs must pass fitness tests, and commanders can implement fitness tests at a unit-wide level.
Space Force
The U.S. Space Force adheres to the same standards as the U.S. Air Force Fitness Assessment, encompassing aerobic, strength, and core components. These tests are conducted annually.
What People Are Saying
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday: “Today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT [physical training] every duty day. Should be common sense. Most units do that already, but we’re codified, and we’re not talking like hot yoga and stretching. Real hard. PT, either as a unit or as an individual, at every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private. Leaders set the standard.”
Political analyst Thom Hartmann said in a statement: “What Pete Hegseth has done by imposing almost exclusively male standards on all combat roles is nothing less than an assault on the very ideals of democracy. A military that reflects the population of America, women, men, people of every race and background, is essential to both fairness and strength.”
Webster University adjunct professor William Hall told Newsweek: “The recent decision made by Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, would appear to be one that, overall, may very well not be in either the best interest of achieving the best spirit or for achieving the best levels of readiness for our military forces, particularly in today’s contemporary military environment.
“With the growing needs of military and the increasing need to attract, recruit and incorporate more women into military forces, it will be imperative that greater levels of thought be directed at ways to attract and recruit women, and policies designed to achieve this goal successfully, will have to take into account the most effective ways to do so, while at the same time, also make sound military sense.”
What Happens Next
Some political analysts worry that narrowing the standards will amount to the exclusion of women in combat roles and limit inclusivity within the military on a larger scale.
“Real strength doesn’t come from exclusion; it comes from harnessing the full diversity of America’s people as every modern president until Trump has acknowledged,” Hartmann said. “If our military shuts out women and minorities, it is not just weaker on the battlefield, it is weaker as a defender of freedom itself.”
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