Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday evening ordered the military services to set sex-neutral physical fitness standards for combat arms, reversing more than a decade of the erosion of standards in hopes of recruiting more women.
“For far too long, we allowed standards to slip, and different standards for men and women in combat arms, [military occupational specialties] and jobs, that’s not acceptable,” Hegseth said in a video on his official plane flying back from Japan before signing a memo to implement the order.
Different physical standards for men and women in the U.S. military have existed for a long time. BUT, there were also combat roles that were male-only.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 31, 2025
Then, under Obama, all combat roles were opened to men AND women. BUT, different physical fitness standards for men and women…
