Pentagon Begins Six-Month Review to Ensure Combat Effectiveness of Women in Ground Roles

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review examining whether women serving in ground combat roles meet military operational demands. The initiative follows roughly a decade after the Department of Defense lifted restrictions barring women from infantry, armor, and artillery positions. Pentagon officials stated the effort aims to maintain combat readiness while ensuring standards have not been compromised by social policy considerations.

In a memo circulated last month, Anthony Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, outlined that 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 organization supporting federal government national security matters. The Pentagon is also requesting internal studies and research—including materials not publicly released—related to women’s integration into combat units.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson emphasized that the review intends 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 would 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 constitute a small share of combat troops, with approximately 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 sparked significant debate, particularly within the Marine Corps. A Marine study conducted that year found mixed-gender units were slower, less lethal, and more prone to injury compared to all-male units.