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Pentagon will begin review of 'effectiveness' of women in ground combat positions
NPR ^ | January 6, 2026 | Tom Bowman

Posted on 01/06/2026 9:52:19 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

The Pentagon is mounting a six-month review of women in ground combat jobs, to ensure what it calls the military "effectiveness" of having several thousand female soldiers and Marines in infantry, armor and artillery, according to a memo obtained by NPR.

Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel Anthony Tata wrote in a memo last month that the effort is to determine the "operational effectiveness of ground combat units 10 years after the Department lifted all remaining restrictions on women serving in combat roles."

Tata requested Army and Marine Corps leaders to provide data on the readiness, training, performance, casualties and command climate of ground combat units and personnel. The services are to provide points of contact no later than Jan. 15 to the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit corporation that assists the government on national security issues.

The memo says the data should include "all available metrics describing that individual's readiness and ability to deploy (including physical, medical, and other measures of ability to deploy.)"

Moreover, the seven-page memo calls for any internal research and studies — not publicly available — on "the integration of women in combat."

"We should not have women in combat roles" Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in an email to NPR that the study is to "ensure standards are met and the United States maintains the most lethal military. Our standards for combat arms positions will be elite uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn't care if you're a man or a woman. Under [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, the Department of War's [sic] will not compromise standards to satisfy quotas or an ideological agenda—this is common sense."

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
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1 posted on 01/06/2026 9:52:19 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

they need to hold these tests at different times during the month.

when they find the optimal time they can induce this state with hormones prior to deployment./


2 posted on 01/06/2026 9:58:46 PM PST by algore
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To: MinorityRepublican
"We should not have women in combat roles" Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in an email to NPR

Never made sense to me when this started, I believe, during POTUS #42 WJC's watch. Women in infantry/armour/artillery always seemed counterproductive. I recall reading about the IDF after the 1967 6-Day War. The male soldiers suffered mentally seeing their female cohorts KIA. I haven't heard any recent stats, but during WJC's watch I recall reading that female sailors who went to sea were getting pregnant at an abnormally high rate. Go Hegseth!

3 posted on 01/06/2026 10:23:36 PM PST by MacNaughton
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To: MinorityRepublican

I say next incursion send ONLY lib women.


4 posted on 01/06/2026 10:24:12 PM PST by Singermom
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To: MinorityRepublican

It’s happening!

Rush Limbaugh’s “All-American First Cavalry Amazon Battalion!”


5 posted on 01/06/2026 10:29:46 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (I have nro answers. Only questions.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

If war were more like volleyball, we’d want an all-woman army.


6 posted on 01/06/2026 11:26:06 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: MinorityRepublican

Women in combat is just like women cops, they always need men to save them when the situation gets serious.


7 posted on 01/06/2026 11:46:38 PM PST by TonyM (Score Event)
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To: MinorityRepublican

The very few who can meet male standards probably cost far more in mental and physical accommodations through the force than can be justified.

But we really knew that all along.


8 posted on 01/07/2026 1:09:48 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: MinorityRepublican

We need front line field cooks. Although...men are still better cooks.


9 posted on 01/07/2026 1:23:00 AM PST by Mr. Blond
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To: Mr. Blond

“””””We need front line field cooks. Although...men are still better cooks.”””””

In reality women are a weakness even in the physicality of getting cooking stations to the front and keeping them there, and in working them, they can’t handle large heavy tents and tarps, massive pots of heavy foods and liquids, digging and leveling sites, the washing drums, the heavy food containers, getting the trucks through the mud and changing tires on them, and whatever else is required for cooks, not to mention the heavy work of fortifying and defending when the front lines collapses or the enemy paratroops show up.


10 posted on 01/07/2026 2:56:45 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

Agreed… you are absolutely spot-on.

But of course you’re speaking rationally and logically, from a thinking man’s perspective.

Can’t do that.

We Gots to be “emotional” because this is about “feelings”… it’s NEVER about reality when it comes to ANY leftist trigger issue…. And we’re supposed to just shut up, agree, and give in because… Well, just because… so there!!!!

(Sarcasm, of course)


11 posted on 01/07/2026 3:17:52 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I can't believe that anyone at all believes for one second that women should ever be in front line combat. Combat is killing the enemy and maybe getting killed in the process of killing the enemy. It's organized murder, plain and simple.

Women are noy suited mentally (even many men can't handle it) or physically for close combat and only cause distraction within a unit.

The only people who are pushing for this are the middle0aged cat ladies of the Women's Rights movement.

Has anyone actually seen what goes on in combat?

12 posted on 01/07/2026 3:59:50 AM PST by Chainmail (You can vote your way into Socialism - but you will have to shoot your way out.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Why waste time “reviewing”? Sheer logic is the only thing necessary.


13 posted on 01/07/2026 4:08:37 AM PST by MayflowerMadam ( "Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away". - B. Franklin)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Women who excel at powderpuff motocross might make for good combat soldiers as long as they’re dedicated to the mission. However, they can’t outride the men. Guys like the Lawrence brothers from Australia, among others. /s


14 posted on 01/07/2026 4:08:55 AM PST by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
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To: MinorityRepublican
a six-month review of women in ground combat jobs

Finally! Although... six months? About six seconds is all that's needed.

15 posted on 01/07/2026 4:44:36 AM PST by grobdriver (The CDC can KMA!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Women should not be denied their equality. They should be subject to the draft and assigned to combat roles in the military.


16 posted on 01/07/2026 5:18:04 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: MinorityRepublican

Here’s a radical idea. Everybody in our military must submit to and pass the same standards. There are four or five different branches of service each with a separate identity. That’s fine. But, the entry into basic should be a common training regimen. Six or seven weeks of existing Marine Corps training for every recruit no matter their branch of service.


17 posted on 01/07/2026 6:30:02 AM PST by tupac (the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe)
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To: MinorityRepublican

We should never have allowed women in ground combat roles.


18 posted on 01/07/2026 6:45:24 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Without women in combat the trannies wouldn’t have known which bathroom to use. Since that has been solved….

EC


19 posted on 01/07/2026 6:47:30 AM PST by Ex-Con777 ("Journalism is about covering important stories-with a pillow, until they stop moving." ~ David Burg)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Long overdue. A return to sanity is vastly needed. Get the women out of the combat units where they are manifestly unsuited to be. Their presence weakens and distracts the force and is detrimental to the mission.

That includes service on warships, too.


20 posted on 01/07/2026 7:11:33 AM PST by SharpenedEdge (Stockpile. Prepare. Arm. Train. A Storm is coming.)
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