09/19/2026
For years, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that women couldn't keep up. Women "cannot physically meet the same standards as men," he wrote in his book -- and last fall he made the military's fitness test for combat troops tougher, scrapping the scoring scale for women so they'd have to clear the men's bar. Now the results are in -- and to Hegseth's likely chagrin, more than 9 in 10 female Marines have met or exceeded the new physical fitness standard. Kris Fuhr, co-founder of the Women in the Service Coalition, wasn't surprised: "The women prepare and they train and they're ready."
Hegseth manufactured a problem that didn't exist. Women in combat roles had been meeting the same standards as men all along -- he simply refused to believe it. For a decade, every woman in the infantry, artillery, or armor has had to meet the identical job requirements as the men beside her -- more than 5,000 have, and 174 have earned the Army's brutal Ranger tab under the same rules as their male peers. What Hegseth changed wasn't the combat standard. It was the annual fitness test, long graded on separate curves for men and women, which he ordered scored against the men's alone. The women are clearing that, too, at 91% -- nearly matching the men's 97%.
He has never been coy about what he thinks. "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles," he said on a podcast weeks before his confirmation. His own military's numbers now undercut the very claim he built his case on: that women can't meet the men's standard. Undeterred in his quest to prove women inadequate, he has commissioned a formal review of women in combat that is currently ongoing -- one critics say was designed to reach its conclusion before it began, on a timeline too short to do the work honestly.
The Marine data reaffirms what women have already been proving in these roles for years: leading infantry platoons, flying combat missions, earning Ranger tabs and Green Beret qualifications that wash out most of the men who attempt them. The fitness numbers are simply the latest confirmation of what those women already knew.
"If you tell a woman what the standard is," Fuhr said, "she will do the work to not only meet it, but often exceed it."
For an inspiring children's book that gives groundbreaking women in the military, past and present, the respect they deserve, we highly recommend "Heroism Begins With Her: Inspiring Stories of Bold, Brave, and Gutsy Women in the U.S. Military" for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/heroism-begins-with-her
For more books for young readers that honor the service of women in the military, visit our blog post "The Price of Peace: A Mighty Girl Recognizes Veterans" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12356
For books for children and teens about the importance of standing up for truth, decency, and justice, even in dark times, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
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To read more about female Marines and the fitness test results on the War Horse, visit https://thewarhorse.org/hegseth-marine-women-combat-fitness-test/
