WASHINGTON — Concern, questions and condemnation from veterans and members of Congress have grown since President-elect Trump announced Pete Hegseth, a Fox News contributor and retired Army National Guardsman, as his selection for Secretary of Defense.
Hegseth, who served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, including combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been outspoken in his opposition to women in combat-oriented service.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” he said on a podcast just days before Trump announced his selection as Defense Secretary on Tuesday.
Women have been able to serve in full-combat roles in the United States military since 2016 but have been a part of the armed forces in partial roles since the American Revolutionary War. Today, nearly a fifth of Americans in active duty service are women, and both the Navy and Coast Guard have women in senior leadership positions.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Marilla Cushman, who initially served in the Women’s Army Corps until Congress fully integrated the service in 1978, said she believed excluding women would be a detrimental decision by the armed services.
“It does deeply concern me,” Cushman said. “As someone who served 25 years in the Army, I experienced those pieces of legislation that restricted me. I don’t want to see that again.”
When Cushman first joined the Army in 1972, women were excluded from all combat operations and had only been allowed to receive high-level promotions since 1967.
Republicans, even some who disagree with Hegseth’s position, have appeared keen to avoid addressing the issue, redirecting the conversation to Hegseth’s vast combat experience.
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), who serves in the majority on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, lauded Hegseth’s military service record but disagreed with Hegseth’s statement.
“I support women in the military in all phases,” Fleischmann said, rebuking Trump’s nominee. Fleischmann told the Medill News Service that he was unaware of Hegseth’s comments on The Shawn Ryan Show.
He continued, however, and said, “[Hegseth] is very talented and a very unique pick. It shows great flexibility on the part of the President to pick somebody who just may not have…come out of a set groomed mold.”
Democratic dissent has been swift. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said restrictions on women’s service would be illegal and challenged in the courts.
“The courts have clearly said that women have the same rights,” Nadler said. “Even this Supreme Court is not totally sublime. I’d be surprised if they went that way.”
Hegseth’s position partially aligns with Project 2025, a policy agenda for a second Trump administration written and published by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. Their proposal appeared to take a middle ground between Hegseth and current Defense Department policy. It would allow women in the armed services so long as they meet identical fitness requirements, regardless of age or sex. Physical fitness tests are currently adjusted for gender and age across all six services, although specialized roles do not change requirements.
President-elect Trump has echoed this sentiment since his first presidential campaign. In a 2015 interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, then-candidate Trump said that there are “major problems” with women in military service. The Trump-Pence Transition Team did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite the concern, Cushman said she hopes the policies will not change.
“It’s all about a need,” Cushman said. “Things change, but throughout history men looked at women differently when the nation needed them. Our military always needs more people.”
