Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo on Sunday ordering the return of “sex-neutral standards” for military combat roles.
“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 or in those formations, have the best possible leaders and the highest possible standards that are not based at all on your sex,” Hegseth said.
According to a copy of the directive obtained by The Federalist, Hegseth has instructed the secretaries of America’s military departments to “develop comprehensive plans to distinguish combat arms occupations from non-combat arms occupations.” These plans, as specified by the defense secretary, must also “identify which positions require heightened entry-level and sustained physical fitness” for “certain combat arms roles.”
“These roles, which are critical to our military’s mission success, demand exceptional physical capabilities, and the standards for them must reflect that rigor,” Hegseth wrote.
The plans to be developed by the military departments must address “Ground Combat Operations,” “Special Operations Forces (SOF) Occupations,” and “Specialized Occupations,” according to the directive.
Most notable about Sunday’s memo, however, are its instructions for military departments to abide by “sex-neutral standards” when drafting their plans. It specifies that “[a]ll 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,” the memo reads.
All military department secretaries must submit “an interim update” on the status of their plans to the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness no later than 30 days after the memo’s issuance. Final reports must be submitted within 60 days of the memo’s release.
These plans will take effect “within six months of submission,” according to the directive.
“For too long, the U.S. military has let standards slip for men and women serving in combat arms jobs. Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership, our standards will be high, uniform, uncompromising, and clear,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Federalist.
The issue of women serving in military combat roles was a prominent issue during Hegseth’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year. The body’s Democrat members (and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa) were adamant in their collective belief that the military should be able to deploy women to the trenches to fight America’s wars.
Despite such impassioned arguments, available data suggests that there is no discernable benefit to the policy.
For example, in 2015, under the Obama administration, the Marine Corps conducted an analysis comparing the efficiency of all-male and mixed-sex combat units. According to the Marine Corps Times, the study found that the former outperformed the latter “in nearly every capacity.”
The outlet reported that sex-integrated units not only “performed at lower overall levels, completed tasks more slowly and fired weapons with less accuracy than their all-male counterparts,” but female Marines also “sustained significantly higher injury rates and demonstrated lower levels of physical performance capacity overall.”
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Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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