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Rep. Hunter looks to lock-in gender-neutral combat standards
As the military services prepare to implement an end of the ban on women in combat positions, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) wants to make sure the Pentagon keeps its word that physical standards will remain gender-neutral.
Hunter, a retired Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he’s planning legislation to prevent gender from being a factor in physical standards for combat positions as more than 200,000 new positions are potentially opened up to women.
Pentagon leaders said last week that standards for combat jobs would in fact be gender neutral. Defense Secretary Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey also said that standards would not be changed to allow more women to serve in combat roles, although Dempsey also said that the standards themselves were going to be evaluated.
Despite the Pentagon's assurances, Hunter wants to write "gender-neutral" into law, in part because he doesn't want future military leaders to change course and change the standards, a Hunter aide said.
“There seems to be consensus that standards need to stay neutral,” Hunter said in a statement. “It’s about the individual and the job they train to do and especially for combat specialties, it’s important that we continue maintaining high quality standards across the board.”
Hunter isn’t the only Republican looking at weighing in on the Pentagon’s move to end the women-in-combat ban.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is eyeing a different tack than Hunter. Inhofe said last week when the ban was rescinded that he would consider legislation to block changes the Pentagon makes that were "detrimental to our fighting forces and their capabilities.”
“I suspect there will be cases where legislation becomes necessary,” Inhofe said.
Hunter is looking at adding the gender-neutral provisions to this year’s Defense authorization bill, although he hasn’t ruled out a standalone bill if the idea attracts bipartisan support, the aide said.
The military services have until 2016 to determine any occupations or units they believe women should continue to be excluded from. The services will present their plans to the Defense secretary by mid-May to begin opening up new positions to women.
