Pentagon Launches Six-Month Review of Women in Combat Roles Following 2015 Integration

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review examining whether women serving in ground combat roles meet the military’s operational demands, NPR reported Tuesday. The review comes roughly a decade after the then-Department of Defense lifted restrictions barring women from infantry, armor, and artillery positions.

Pentagon leaders stated the effort is focused on maintaining combat readiness and ensuring standards have not been weakened in the name of social policy. In a memo circulated last month, Anthony Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, said the review will assess the “operational effectiveness” of ground combat units since women were integrated into frontline roles.

Army and Marine Corps leaders have been directed to submit data on readiness, training, performance, casualties, and command climate. The information will be reviewed by the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit that supports the federal government on national security matters. The Pentagon is also requesting internal studies and research—including material not publicly released—related to the integration of women into combat units.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the review is intended to ensure the U.S. military remains the world’s most lethal fighting force. “Our standards for combat arms positions will be elite, uniform, and sex-neutral,” Wilson stated. “The weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman.” He added that the Pentagon will not lower standards to meet quotas or ideological goals.

The review aligns with the long-held views of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran who has previously argued that integrating women into combat roles has not improved battlefield effectiveness. Women make up a small share of combat troops, with about 3,800 serving in Army infantry, armor, and artillery units and roughly 700 in comparable Marine Corps roles. A limited number have completed elite training programs, including Ranger School and Special Forces selection.

The decision to open combat roles to women in 2015 under then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter was hotly debated, particularly in the Marines. A Marine study conducted that year found mixed-gender units were slower, less lethal, and more injury-prone than all-male units.