Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal predicted Sunday that women
will eventually become part of special operations units like the Navy SEALs and
Army Rangers, saying that including female servicemembers could improve the elite groups’
operations.
McChrystal, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said on CNN’s “State of the
Union” that he supported the move from the Pentagon this week to lift the ban
on women serving in combat.
“I think you’ll see them probably in all of those units,” said
McChrystal, who once was an Army Ranger himself.
“You already see them serving in functions around those
units: intelligence, pilots and whatnot,” he said. “There are positions that are
much better for females, there are things you can do in special operations with
females that are more difficult to do with just males. So I think it will come.”
McChrystal noted, however, that there are still plenty of
complications surrounding implementing the policy move.
Both he and former CIA Director Michael Hayden said Sunday
that the physical standards for combat positions cannot change, even though
women have different general fitness standards.
“If the standard is here, and only a small percentage of
women could match that standard for reasons that are biological, the standard has
to stay there,” Hayden said. “Otherwise you’re risking mission success.”
While the Pentagon lifted the ban on women in combat, it’s
still unclear yet whether women will be allowed in special-forces units like
the Army Rangers. The Pentagon is giving the military services until 2016 to
request that some occupations or units remain closed to women, a decision that the
secretary of Defense must agree to.
