“ None of us never asked for special treatment ”

The women who served in the American army repel against the announcement of the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, that the requirements for the roles of combat “will return to the highest male standard”, saying that standards have always been the same for men and women.

“None of us ever asked for special treatment,” said Elisa Cardnell, who served in the American navy for eleven years, at the BBC.

Addressing hundreds of generals on Tuesday, Hegseth reiterated his convictions according to which the army had reduced standards to welcome women and put the military in danger. His new directives would bring them back to a higher level, he said.

“If that means that no woman qualifies for combat jobs, then too bad,” he said.

He argued that women would not be excluded from the armed forces.

In January, the former commentator of Fox News barely obtained approval in the Senate to lead the Pentagon. Vice-President JD Vance had to break the vote on a par, because many legislators had trouble with his opinions on women in the army and on diversity.

On Tuesday, he told the generals that he had sent them by e-mail 10 directives which included the “male standard”.

Some veteran women have been indignant.

“I am sick and tired of Pete Hegseth Lies on women in the army and standards,” said American veteran Amy McGarth in an Instagram video.

“There has always been a standard for these jobs,” she said. “There has never been a man or a woman’s standard to pilot a jet.”

Ms. Cardnell also said that sex and age were not part of the evaluations given for combat roles.

Combat standards are defined differently depending on the unit in which a person serves, whether in special operations, infantry, armor or pararests, she said. But all the staff of these roles must take the same test.

“These standards have always been neutral, and they have always been set at a high level,” she said. “Of course, not all women are going to do them, but not all men do it.”

It is not the same for the annual physical tests given to all the military, which include routine exercises such as pumps. There, standards and scores differ depending on age and sex, and tests vary according to the unit.

Ms. Cardnell said that he is not clear if HegSeth would really bring radical changes to the way military personnel is evaluated. The BBC asked the Pentagon of clarification on HegSeth’s plans.

In his speech, Hegseth said: “Any place where the physical standards have been changed, in particular since 2015, when combat standards have been modified to ensure that women could qualify, must be returned to their original standard.”

He seemed to refer to a directive in 2015 by the defense secretary of the time, Ash Carter, that all military jobs are open to women and that anyone, whatever the sex, which meets the standards should be able to serve.

“Regarding any job that requires physical power to operate in combat, these physical standards must be high and neutral to sex,” HegSeth said. “If women can do it, excellent. Otherwise, that’s what it is.”

In general, Hegseth said that he changed the requirements in all the military to “repair decades of disintegration” and that the armed forces “have promoted too many uniform leaders for bad reasons”, such as race, sex and “the so-called historical first”.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, an army veteran who was seriously injured while he was a combat pilot in Iraq, told the BBC after the speech: “For a guy who is not qualified for his own work, it is quite discriminatory to speak of qualified women to do their job.”

She added that her remarks could harm recruitment.

Women of the American army were first authorized to pilot combat aircraft in the Navy and the Air Force in 1993, although they were excluded from the ground combat. This changed in 2013 when the combat exclusion policy was lifted and the roles of combat in 2016 were open to everyone.

Due to the way women recently have been included in all ranks, many are still in the middle of their careers, said Ms. Cardnell.

“It takes time to see these women break this brass ceiling, and we did not have the chance to see this,” she said.

Now, active and veterans soldiers fear that Hegseth will build a military culture where women will be mined and unable to move forward, she said.

“Leadership sets the tone,” she said.

Not all women soldiers opposed HegSeth’s comments.

The republican representative of the Chamber, Sheri Biggs, who was a lieutenant-colonel of the National Air Guard, said that she had supported the efforts of the defense secretary to end the “awakened” army policies.

“The return to standards which prioritize excellence and responsibility puts the security of America and our soldiers where they belong – first,” Biggs said in a statement on Tuesday at the Associated Press.

Another Republican from South Carolina, representative Nancy Mace, a graduate of the Citadel Military College, posted on X in support of Hegseth.

“Our enemies are not afraid of diversity quotas. They fear American fireplace,” she said.