Women are invaluable to US military, defense secretary says in response to Hegseth's comments
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he has served with women who’ve done “incredible things,” and they “add significant value” to the United States military.
Austin was asked to comment on views expressed by Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, who has said that women should not serve in the military combat roles.
“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 told reporters in Laos.
Austin recounted how he served as a one-star deputy commander of the Third Infantry Division, which he said was “the major element that conducted the assault from Kuwait all the way up to Baghdad” in Iraq in 2003.
“In my command post were several very courageous, very proficient women who did amazing things to support our effort and support their colleagues,” he said.
During his three tours of Iraq and one of Afghanistan, Austin said that “every place I went, there were women doing incredible things, and they were adding value to overall effort” in a wide range of roles, including pilots and operational experts.
“Our women add significant value to the United States military, and we should never change that,” Austin said.
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