The military has not lowered standards for women in elite combat positions.

Pete Hegseth, a candidate to lead the Defense Department in the next administration, argues that the military has relaxed physical fitness requirements to accommodate a directive allowing women to take on the most physically demanding jobs.

“Standards have been lowered,” Hegseth said during a Nov. 7 interview on Shawn Ryan Show. “I’m saying outright that we shouldn’t have women in combat positions.”

But the military said it has not reduced qualifications for women to fill some of the toughest jobs on the battlefield.

Although women have long been involved in combat, the Department of Defense officially opened these positions to women in 2016.

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Ash Carter, then the secretary of defense, said women would still have to prove they could handle grueling physical demands.

“As long as they meet the requirements and standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before,” Carter said at a 2015 press conference. “They will be allowed to drive tanks and fire mortars. and lead the infantry into battle.”

In 2022, the Army lowered its overall physical standards for women and older service members — women and men — but that only applies to the annual physical fitness test.

The Army and all branches of the military still require women to pass rigorous physical fitness tests if they want to take on the most physically demanding specialty jobs, such as an Army Ranger or a Green Beret.

Although only a small number of women have been able to meet the rigorous physical requirements to join these elite ranks, thousands of women now serve in positions that were only men’s only nine years ago.

Before this, many participated in intense combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who served on combat missions in Iraq, says keeping women away from the most intense combat is impractical given the nature of war in the 21st century.

“The idea that you can exclude women from combat really shows Hegseth’s lack of experience,” Duckworth said. “Let’s be honest: in modern warfare there is no front line of troops like yours where women can be kept.”

As Duckworth and other senators consider Hegseth’s nomination during his confirmation hearings, they will likely press him on what actions, if any, he will take as defense secretary to try to remove women from combat roles.