Veterans Share Why the Military Is Stronger When Women Can Serve in Ground Combat Roles

When people question whether women should serve in ground combat roles, my first question is: What are they afraid of? To me, this is about good old American fairness. We are not comparing the average man to the average woman. We are talking about capable, athletic, patriotic, and driven people who want to serve their country. Every person who can meet the standards required for the jobs deserve the opportunity to compete.

It was shocking to me to join the infantry and encounter men who could only see women as mothers, sisters, girlfriends, or teachers, but not as peers, leaders, or competitors. Women have served with distinction throughout our history, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, and excluding them now would disregard their service while stripping the military of access to half the country’s talent. At a time when the military already struggles to fill its ranks, that would weaken readiness and put our national security at risk.

A lot of this debate comes from people confusing general physical fitness tests with military occupational standards. A fitness test measures overall strength, endurance, and agility, often relative to age. An occupational standard asks whether someone can perform the physical and mental tasks required for a specific job: carrying heavy equipment over long distances, shooting accurately, navigating difficult terrain, calling for air support under pressure, and making decisions that protect the unit. Those requirements should be the same for every person doing that job.

My wife, Kate Germano, saw the importance of this distinction when she commanded the Marine Corps’ then-all-female recruit battalion at the Marine Corps’ boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. She found that women were failing rifle qualification at much higher rates than men. The problem was not their ability, but rather the military’s lack of investment: women were held to lower expectations, given less effective instruction, and treated as though they could not succeed. Once she changed these environmental and cultural conditions and women were held to the same expectations, and received the same training and investment as male recruits, their scores rose dramatically, and women began shooting as well as or better than the men. The standards were not lowered; women were finally given a fair opportunity to meet them.

Women have since passed Marine Corps infantry courses and become infantry officers. There may not be as many women as men who desire to serve in infantry, tanks, or artillery jobs, and that’s fine. But for those that do, as long as they meet the standards, they deserve the opportunity to serve.