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March 10, 2016 - Three months ago, I announced that the
Department of Defense would be opening all remaining combat
positions to women. As I said at the time, to succeed in our mission
of national defense, we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from half
the country's talents and skills. We have to take full advantage of
every individual who can meet our standards.
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Women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces proudly stand at attention
wearing their respective service's uniform, (Photo provided by U.S.
Department of Defense - 2016)
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At every stage in this process, I have emphasized that the
implementation of this change must be handled the right way, because
the combat effectiveness of the world's finest fighting force is
paramount. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dunford and
I agree that implementation should be done in a combined manner, by
all the military services working together. And to make sure we did
this right, I asked the military services to incorporate seven
guiding principles ... transparent standards, population size,
talent management, physical demands and physiological differences,
operating abroad, conduct and culture, and assessment and adjustment
... into their implementation plans.
Over the last three
months, each of the military services and U.S. Special Operations
Command (SOCOM) have put a great deal of thought and effort into
their plans to incorporate these guidelines. Having reviewed and
approved their exceptionally thorough work, today I'm pleased to
announce that each of them will be moving forward by the end of this
month. While I encourage our men and women serving in uniform to
read the implementation plans, which are publicly available from the
Army,
Navy,
Marine Corps,
Air Force, and
SOCOM, I'd like to provide a few key examples that illustrate
how we will proceed in a deliberate and methodical manner that will
make our force stronger.
Transparent
Standards... My first and foremost guiding principle was that the
services would need to continue to apply transparent and objective
standards for all career fields to ensure leaders assign tasks,
jobs, and career fields throughout the force based on ability, not
gender. In this respect, the services have been able to leverage the
great amounts of data they gathered over three years' worth of
studies to make their standards up to date and operationally
relevant. We found over the last few years that in some cases we
were doing things because that's the way we've always done them. For
example, previously one of the tasks to earn the Army's Expert
Infantry Badge required soldiers to move 12 miles in three hours
with a 35-pound rucksack, but it turns out that the rucksack weight
was based on a World War II-era airborne study. It was the minimum
weight required to prevent the ruck sack from getting tangled in a
jumper's static line, and had nothing to do with the equipment
required for paratroopers to fight with once they landed ... let
alone the modern equipment that infantry soldiers need to carry
today. This process drove us to take a closer look at our training,
too, and going forward, we will be using standards informed by
today's real-world operational requirements, informed by experiences
gained over the last decade and a half of war in Iraq and
Afghanistan. As a result, our military will be even better at
finding and training not only the most qualified women, but also the
most qualified men, for all military specialties.
Population
Size... Second, the fact that we're holding everyone to the same high
standards may mean that in some cases, equal opportunity may not
always equate to equal participation. Here, we'll incorporate
lessons we've learned in the past, like how the Navy has integrated
women onto surface ships and more recently, submarines. The Army and
the Marine Corps will integrate women officers and senior enlisted
into previously-closed units before integrating junior enlisted
women, and where they can, they'll assign more than just one woman
into a unit at a time. This will help ensure that women officers
play a key leadership role, set the right example, and enhance
teamwork wherever possible.
Talent Management... Third is
talent management ... integration provides equal opportunity for men
and women who can perform the tasks required; it does not guarantee
women will be promoted at any specific number or at any set rate, as
adherence to a merit-based system must continue to be paramount.
This has been a particular focus area for all the military services,
and they'll be paying extra attention to it as they pursue
implementation, mindful that it will require sustained effort at all
levels of leadership to ensure that when someone gets ahead or moves
up a rank, they earned it. We have to remember that it takes decades
to grow a general or flag officer, so it will take time to see these
results.
Physical Demands and Physiological
Differences... Fourth is the fact that, on average, there tend to be
physical and other physiological differences between men and women.
Accordingly, all the services have looked closely at ways to
mitigate the potential for higher injury rates among women, and
they've come up with creative methods to address this. For example,
the Army intends to give all new recruits what they call an
occupational physical assessment test, the results of which will
help better match the recruits with jobs they either are, or with
training could be, physically capable of doing. Likewise, the Marine
Corps plans to use the extra time provided by their delayed entry
program so that women who are interested in enlisting in ground
combat arms can better prepare themselves for the physical demands
of the job they want to serve in. And as we gain new insights as
more women integrate into previously-closed positions, all the
services will leverage that information to develop new approaches to
reduce the potential for higher injury rates. All of this will help
maximize effectiveness in the fight and increase readiness.
Operating Abroad... Fifth, while we know the United States is a nation
committed to using our entire population to the fullest ... as are
some of our closest friends and allies who have already achieved
full gender integration ... we also know that not all nations share
this perspective. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines have
long dealt with this reality, notably over the last 15 years in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and because of this, the military services have
many lessons to draw on when it comes to operating in areas where
there is cultural resistance to working with women. This is an area
where we will always have to be vigilant, and the services are
prepared to do so going forward across the force.
Conduct and
Culture... Sixth, we must address attitudes toward team performance
through education and training, including making clear that sexual
assault or harassment, hazing, and unprofessional behaviors are
never acceptable, and that everyone must be treated with the dignity
and respect they deserve. Our core beliefs in good order,
discipline, leadership, and accountability are foundational to our
success in integration. The services will be using new educational
resources to train everyone up and down the ranks to prepare for the
integration of women, from the newest recruits to four-star admirals
and generals. While each service is different and will do this in
their own way, I know that all of them will continue to hold our
people to the highest standards of honor and trust we associate with
the profession of arms.
Assessment and Adjustment... Seventh,
it is absolutely critical ... and a core tenet of DoD's character as
a learning organization ... that we embark on integration with a
commitment to the monitoring, assessment, and in-stride adjustment
that enables sustainable success. Every service is deeply committed
to this. One example I want to highlight is U.S. Special Operations
Command, which will continually measure and track a variety of
categories for its personnel ... including physical performance,
injury rates, health, promotion, qualifications, and retention ...
to assess how integrating women into special operations forces can
be further improved over time.
As I said in December 2015 ...
it's important to keep all of this in perspective. Since then, we've
already seen some changes ... women servicemembers have started to
volunteer for ground combat roles, and the Army, Navy, Air Force,
and Marine Corps are all beginning to step up their recruitment
efforts. But even as we proceed with implementation going forward,
it won't all happen overnight, and while at the end of the day this
will make us a better and stronger force, there will still be
problems to fix and challenges to overcome. We shouldn't diminish
that. At the same time, we should also remember that the military
has long prided itself on being a meritocracy, where those who serve
are judged not based on who they are or where they come from, but
rather what they have to offer to help defend this country.
That's
why we have the finest fighting force the world has ever known. And
it's one other way we will strive to ensure that the force of the
future remains so, long into the future. Today, we take yet another
step toward that continued excellence.
By Ash Carter, Secretary of Defense
DOD News
Copyright 2016
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