The Pentagon is launching a six-month review examining the effectiveness of women serving in ground combat roles, according to a memo obtained by NPR. The review will assess the performance and readiness of women in infantry, armor, and artillery positions a decade after the military lifted restrictions on women serving in combat.

Scope of the Pentagon Review

In a memo written last month, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel Anthony Tata said the review is intended to evaluate the “operational effectiveness of ground combat units 10 years after the Department lifted all remaining restrictions on women serving in combat roles.”

Tata directed Army and Marine Corps leaders to submit data related to readiness, training, performance, casualties, and command climate for ground combat units and personnel. The memo also requests “all available metrics describing that individual’s readiness and ability to deploy (including physical, medical, and other measures of ability to deploy).”

The services are required to provide points of contact to the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit organization that supports the government on national security issues, no later than Jan. 15. The memo also calls for internal, non-public research and studies related to “the integration of women in combat.”

Pentagon Statements on Standards

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in an email to NPR that the review aims to ensure military standards are upheld.

“Our standards for combat arms positions will be elite uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman,” Wilson wrote. She added that the department will not compromise standards to meet quotas or ideological goals.

Pete Hegseth’s Public Comments

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, has previously expressed opposition to women serving in ground combat roles. During a November 2024 podcast hosted by Shawn Ryan, Hegseth said, “I’m straight up saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”

During his confirmation hearing, however, Hegseth stated that women can serve in combat roles if they meet the same standards as men.

In a September address to admirals and generals at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth said women must meet the “highest male standard.” He also stated that any combat standards altered since 2015 to allow women to qualify should be restored to their original levels.

“When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” Hegseth said. “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is.”

Women Currently Serving in Ground Combat Units

Women make up a small portion of personnel in Army ground combat units. Approximately 3,800 women serve in infantry, armor, and artillery roles. More than 150 women have completed Ranger training, and about 10 have passed Green Beret training. The Marine Corps has roughly 700 women serving in ground combat positions. In all cases, women are required to meet the same standards as men.

Responses to the Review

Ellen Haring, a senior research fellow at Women in International Security and a retired Army colonel, criticized the review, saying it is intended to remove women from combat roles.

“He’s against women in combat and he’s going to get them out,” Haring said. “It’s going to be an effort to prove women don’t belong.”

Khris Fuhr, a West Point graduate who worked on gender integration for Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, said an Army study conducted between 2018 and 2023 found that women performed well in ground combat units, sometimes scoring higher than male soldiers. She described the new review as “a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Background on Combat Integration

In 2015, then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that women would be allowed to serve in all ground combat positions.

“As long as they qualify and meet the standards,” Carter said, “women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before.”

The decision was controversial, particularly within the Marine Corps. A Marine Corps training exercise conducted in the Mojave Desert in 2015 found that gender-integrated units were slower, less lethal, and more prone to injury than all-male units. Marine officers also warned of increased combat casualties.

Carter responded that the study focused on unit-level outcomes rather than individual performance. Supporters of women in combat have argued that the exercise did not adequately account for high-performing women in combat roles.