Americans are used to picturing Army combat soldiers as incredibly tough individuals, able to run faster and do more pushups than most people. In today’s Army, though that notion is officially passé. At a recent Senate hearing, we learned that Army physical fitness has been sacrificed on the altar of gender equity, a move that former infantryman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., noted, will “get soldiers killed.”
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth admitted to Cotton that the service had abandoned efforts to ensure that soldiers’ fitness in physically demanding Army career fields — such as artillery — was being continuously assessed to ensure they met the standards. A subsequent exchange revealed that the Army’s minimum fitness standards have been dramatically compromised.
This wasn’t what we were sold when President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, opened all combat positions to women seven years ago. He directed that “leaders assign tasks and career fields throughout the force based on ability, not gender.”
