Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday ordered a sweeping review of military fitness standards for combat roles -- but before the Pentagon can tighten requirements, he wants clarity on which ...

Hegseth’s memo directs the military services to develop new standards distinguishing combat positions like infantry or armor from noncombat positions.

Women already must pass gender-neutral physical fitness requirements for combat posts, but Hegseth contends the standards for women are lower.

(Stephen B. Morton/AP) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday ordered a 60-day review of military combat arms standards to ensure that exceptions are not being made for female troops to assume ...

Beginning in January 2016, all military jobs opened to women who met the qualifications, and in July 2020, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command announced that the first woman authorized by the ...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a 60-day review of physical standards for military combat roles to ensure female troops are not being given exceptions for the physically challenging ...

Morton/AP) The review follows past concerns from Hegseth that military readiness ... with different standards for men and women in combat arms. That’s not acceptable,” he said.

Members of a platoon of female U.S. Marine Corps recruits gear up before training in hand-to-hand combat at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, S.C., in 2023. (Stephen B. Morton/AP) ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the military to make fitness standards for all combat jobs gender neutral, formalizing a process that largely exists for many of ...

Hegseth's memo calls for a review of how standards changed and the effects of those shifts since Jan. 1, 2015 — the year the Defense Department opened all combat jobs to women. It raises ...