Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave an impassioned defense of women in combat on Tuesday following Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, arguing that the United States "should not have women in combat roles." "I don't know the potential nominee, so I can't comment on and won't comment on anything that he said," Austin, who was asked about the comments made by Hegseth on women in combat roles, said while in Laos to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Defense Ministers Meeting. "I don't know what his experiences are, but I can tell you about my experiences with women in the military and women in combat, and they're pretty good.
" Austin's comments are the strongest statement from the military since Hegseth, an Army veteran who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was tapped by Trump to lead the DOD . The Fox News host has said his concerns are with women specifically in ground combat positions, not with pilots or those in other military roles, because he claims they have led to the military's physical standards being lowered and changed capabilities of combat units. "I'm OK with the idea that you maintain the standards where they are for everybody.
And if there's some ...
hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion," Hegseth said during a podcast appearance days before his nomination. "But that is not what's happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered.
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