鈥業f I leave ... what is left?鈥� Why officers battle Hegseth for women鈥檚 right to fight.
| Washington
Even before his tenure as the Pentagon鈥檚 top civilian, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth鈥檚 remarks about the service of female soldiers sparked concerns among many of them about their future. His on Tuesday fueled them, as he emphasized that all U.S. forces should be held to the 鈥渉ighest male standards.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can鈥檛 meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,鈥� he said. Women have been officially serving in military combat jobs for almost a decade.
After the speech, a general who was in the audience and requested anonymity to speak frankly, said she was struck by the professional stoicism of her roughly 800 fellow flag officers. Many had traveled through the night after being summoned by the defense secretary to attend in person and in dress uniform.
Why We Wrote This
High-ranking women say they are watching the gains they spent their careers building being erased. Despite Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth鈥檚 speech on Tuesday, they are determined to keep serving their country.
But as she and her staff waited at the airport for their flight back to their home base, she said she worries that Mr. Hegseth is 鈥渃reating policies that will help usher women and other minorities out of the military.鈥�
It鈥檚 a concern shared by many high-ranking military men and women as they watch the gains they spent their careers building being erased, and as they mourn the losses within the ranks of the younger women they had hoped to mentor.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e so smart. They鈥檙e so innovative. They鈥檙e so bold,鈥� the general says. And many are determined, she adds, to keep going.
鈥淚f I leave and other women leave,鈥� the general says, 鈥渢hen what is left?鈥�
鈥淭hey performed magnificently鈥�
Prior to becoming defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth made no secret of his skepticism about women鈥檚 military service. 鈥淚鈥檓 straight up just saying we shouldn鈥檛 have women in combat roles,鈥� he said last year on a podcast. 鈥淥ver human history, men in those positions are more capable.鈥�
On Tuesday, he decried leaders who were promoted 鈥渂ased on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts鈥� that had made the U.S. military 鈥渓ess capable and less lethal.鈥�
Shortly after being confirmed as secretary by a 51-50 vote, Mr. Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first female officer to rise to the Navy鈥檚 top job as chief of naval operations, as well as Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black officer to lead a branch of the U.S. armed forces.
Less than 24 hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump terminated Adm. Linda Fagan, who as commandant of the Coast Guard had become the first woman to lead a branch of the armed forces. 鈥淣ow, those of us who are left, we don鈥檛 have role models to look up to,鈥� says the general.
By April, official records of some of the first women and Black troops to serve in the military were removed 鈥� in some cases temporarily 鈥� from Pentagon websites.
Mr. Hegseth has 鈥渄one everything he can to erase the stories of minorities, including women 鈥� to erase their accomplishments, to fire them, to just get rid of them,鈥� says retired Col. Ellen Haring, who was in one of the first classes of women to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy and is now a senior research fellow at Women in International Security.
The secretary has chosen 1990 as a benchmark year for physical standards. Have standards changed 鈥渄ue to a softening, weakening, or gender-based pursuit of other priorities?鈥� he wondered aloud on Tuesday. 鈥�1990 seems as good a place to start as any.鈥�
The choice of the year was no mistake, critics say. It was in 1991 that Congress first began to repeal the laws banning women from serving in combat aviation. By 2013, lawmakers had repealed laws barring women from combat, and in 2016, following three years of study, all front-line jobs were officially opened to women.
In the meantime, some 300,000 female troops have been deployed to America鈥檚 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere since 2001. During that same time, some 1,200 have been injured or killed in combat.
Retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli was tapped to command U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 2006 and served as the Army鈥檚 vice chief of staff from 2008 to 2012.
He was also name-checked in the defense secretary鈥檚 speech as the kind of officer that the Trump administration no longer wants to serve. 鈥淥ut with the Chiarellis, the McKenzies and the Milleys,鈥� Mr. Hegseth said, referring to four-star generals Kenneth 鈥淔rank鈥� McKenzie, who led U.S. Central Command, and Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both of whom served in Mr. Trump鈥檚 first term.
General Chiarelli, who retired from the Army in 2012, recalls that early in his time in Iraq there was still pressure coming from Congress to limit the role of women in combat.
鈥淭hat created a huge problem for me,鈥� he told the Monitor Wednesday. The U.S. was fighting an Iraqi insurgency and needed medics, many of whom were women, to be assigned to more dangerous positions.
鈥淚 encouraged our commanders to go ahead and do it, to put women in those positions,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey performed magnificently.鈥�
Religious undertones?
There has been concern among some some military officials聽about the religious undertones that they see accompanying Mr. Hegseth鈥檚 reservations.
In August, Mr. Hegseth reposted on his X account a CNN segment that featured a pastor, Doug Wilson, who is often described as a 海角大神 nationalist.
In the CNN report, Mr. Wilson said he doesn鈥檛 believe women should hold leadership positions in the military.
A statement from a Pentagon spokesperson following Mr. Hegseth鈥檚 X posting said the defense secretary 鈥渋s a proud member of a church affiliated with鈥� Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which Mr. Wilson co-founded, and 鈥渧ery much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson鈥檚 writings and teachings.鈥�
Since Mr. Hegseth became defense secretary, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received a 鈥渢sunami鈥� of calls, says Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and lawyer, and 鈥檚 founder.
Complaints about sexism in the military are also about three times higher than they were last year, he says.
A former Army chaplain who spoke on background said 鈥渢here had been progress鈥� as the Pentagon took on misogyny and military sexual assaults in the years since women have served on the front lines. But in the Trump administration, men appear to be freer to say and do what they like, the former chaplain added.
He now serves as what鈥檚 known as an Ecclesiastical Endorser, a federally vetted liaison between churches and the Department of Defense. Many of the chaplains he is responsible for are women who are feeling 鈥渟cared, and they鈥檙e discriminated against,鈥� he says. 鈥淲omen are leaving prematurely from a career or choosing not to pursue it at all.鈥�
Cecilia Bradford, a chaplain in the Army Reserve, says she has come 鈥渇ace to face鈥� with fellow chaplains 鈥渨ho didn鈥檛 believe women should be in ministry.鈥�
But she is also driven by the conviction that she can make a difference. Now, she says, she wants 鈥渢o make sure that we continue on.鈥� The field has been male-dominated 鈥渇or so long,鈥� she adds, 鈥渢hat if we don鈥檛 leave our imprint, it could very well go back to that.鈥�
That鈥檚 a concern shared by the general who was in the audience for Mr. Hegseth鈥檚 speech. 鈥淲e鈥檝e worked very, very hard鈥� to attract and keep women in the military, she says. The Trump administration is 鈥渁ctively working against what I have worked for, and it blows my mind.鈥�
Mr. Hegseth, during his speech, touted the work his department has done in past months 鈥渢o remove the social justice ... garbage that has infected鈥� the military. 鈥淣o more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions,鈥� he said.
At the same time, he endeavored, it seemed, to offer some reassurance, stressing that both racism and sexual harassment 鈥渁re wrong and illegal.鈥� Infractions, he added, 鈥渨ill be ruthlessly enforced.鈥�
He also said that America鈥檚 female troops 鈥渁re the absolute best in the world鈥� and that defense officials 鈥渧ery much value [their] impact.鈥�
As far as combat jobs go, 鈥淚f women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If it means that no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,鈥� he added this week. 鈥淭his is not the intent, but it could be the result.鈥�
There will be women who qualify among the many who have already surpassed gender-neutral standards, says Dr. Haring, pointing to the 170 women who currently serve as Rangers, an elite branch of Army Special Operations Forces.
鈥淲hat [Mr. Hegseth] doesn鈥檛 recognize or acknowledge,鈥� she adds, 鈥渋s that once you finally let women compete, many, many, many women have successfully done all the things he thinks women can鈥檛 do.鈥�
Staff writer Anna Mulrine Grobe reported from Brussels.
