in World News Hegseth Is Right To Hold Military Men And Women To The Same Fitness Standards
Samantha Nerove
The entire point of a standard is that it should be, well, standard.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced a new policy of one standard in combat units for both women and men. This is a vital step in creating and sustaining the most lethal military fighting force our country has ever known. It will ensure that the most qualified people are in the right jobs based solely on merit.
So-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and its array of predecessors allowed people to serve in units and positions they were not qualified to fill. It was disruptive and detrimental to unit cohesion and mission success. Using sex or any other diversity reason for inclusion is no longer acceptable.
I was an Army paratrooper and always thought there should be only one standard: pass or fail. When I jumped from a military aircraft, gravity didn’t care about my sex, and neither did the ground. There was no lighter rucksack or “women’s” parachute. Only those who could pull their weight belonged there, and that applied equally to women and men.
Restructuring the current physical standards will be a massive but necessary undertaking; the military must have a coherent way to ensure the right people are in the right positions. The current general physical fitness standards vary based on sex and continually lower with age. They are not relevant to a service member’s ability to perform the duties required to ensure mission achievement. The best way to ensure lethality is to determine mission-based physical and intellectual requirements and generate an evaluation system accordingly.