Pentagon Reopens Debate Over Women in Combat
FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2013 file photo, female recruits stand at the Marine Corps Training Depot on Parris Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith, File)
The Pentagon has ordered a six-month review of how women are performing in ground combat roles, reopening a debate many military leaders believed had been settled years ago. According to a memo obtained by NPR, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel Anthony Tata has directed the Army and Marine Corps to provide extensive data on women serving in infantry, armor, and artillery units.
The review is intended to evaluate “operational effectiveness” a decade after the military lifted the ban on women in direct ground combat positions. The services are being asked to submit statistics on readiness, training outcomes, job performance, injury rates, and unit climate, along with any internal research on female integration that has not been publicly released.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the study is meant to ensure that combat standards remain “elite, uniform, and sex-neutral,” emphasizing that the department will not lower requirements to meet quotas or advance what it views as ideological goals. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who previously argued as a Fox News commentator that women should not serve in combat roles, has since stated that women may serve so long as they meet the same standards as men. In a 2025 address to senior leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Hegseth called for all women in combat arms to meet the “highest male standard” and urged the restoration of physical requirements that were relaxed after 2015.
Currently, about 3,800 women serve in Army infantry, armor, and artillery units. That group includes more than 150 Ranger School graduates and roughly 10 women who have qualified as Green Berets. The Marine Corps reports about 700 women in comparable combat positions.
Supporters of integrating women into combat roles view the new review as a potential step backward. Retired Army Col. Ellen Haring described it as an attempt to “prove women don’t belong,” while former Army integration official Khris Fuhr pointed to a 2018–2023 Army study showing women in ground combat units performed effectively and, in some cases, outscored men. Hegseth, who pledged during his confirmation hearing to support women serving in all military roles, has also said that if reinstating older physical standards results in no women qualifying for certain combat jobs, “so be it.”
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