US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has previously expressed opposition to women serving in combat, has ordered the military to develop gender-neutral physical fitness standards for frontline troops, a memo released Monday said.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has previously expressed opposition to women serving in combat, has ordered the military to develop gender-neutral physical fitness standards for frontline troops, a memo released Monday said.
i’m torn. As a gender abolotionist, I think more things should be gender-neutral.
The general fitness test has never been about combat. It’s been about keeping the force healthy. It’s scored by age and gender because it’s used in promotions and deciding school slots; so it’s desirable to make sure your scores reflect your effort and level of fitness compared to a similar cohort. The combat arms branches have been asking for a gender and age neutral minimum but after a decade or so of research it’s been clear that such a test is easily replaced by a different minimum score for select units. It’s literally just +25% at any age/gender point in the graph and then having them walk 12 miles in under 3 hours with a rucksack.
Yeah, this doesn’t make sense to be gendered unfortunately the people behind it are likely pursuing alienation rather than equality