Ex-military chief slaps down claim by Trump defense secretary pick that women shouldn’t serve in combat

A former military chief has hit back at Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee over remarks made about women serving in the armed forces.

General Mark Milley, who served as the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US military “must be and always should be” standards-based, as he called out the comments by Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, was announced as the President-elect’s choice for secretary of defense last week, in a move that caused consternation across the political aisle. He served 13 years as a part-time member of the National Guard, culminating in the rank of major.

"It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated," Hegseth said in an interview earlier this month. He went on to add that he was “straight-up saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

Speaking at a national security innovation event hosted by the Pallas Foundation on Thursday, Milley, who served as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, reacted to the comments.

“Don’t lecture me about women in combat,” he said. “Women have been in combat and it doesn’t matter if that 762 (bullet) hits you in the chest, no one gives a s*** if it’s a woman or guy who pulled the trigger – you’re still dead.”

He continued: “If you meet the standards, our military must be and always should be a standards-based merit-based military, period, full stop. Doesn’t matter if you are white, Black, a man, a woman, a Catholic or a Protestant.

“What matters are standards, readiness standards. Do you meet the standard or not? If yes, pass go, collect 200, join the infantry.”

According to service data reviewed by Military.com, there are currently around 3,800 women serving in frontline army combat roles across infantry, cavalry, armor and field artillery roles. The data includes active duty, reserve and National Guard, and encompasses enlisted and officers.

In the Marine Corps, nearly 700 women are serving in combat roles, including 112 female infantry riflemen and 15 Marine officers, the data showed.

Though Milley served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first stint in office, holding the position from 2019 to 2023, the relationship between the pair became tumultuous.

In September 2023, the President-elect appeared to imply that Milley deserved to be executed after speaking with a Chinese general during Trump’s fraught final months in office.

“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

Milley later said that he would “take appropriate measures” to ensure his and his family’s personal safety in the wake of the remarks.