Chief: 44 Women Have Volunteered to Become Army Infantry Officers
The U.S. Army could have as many as 44 of the first female infantry officers by this time next year, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Thursday.
Milley told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the first principle in his plan to open all combat-arms jobs to women is grow female infantry leaders in these units first.
“We are going to graduate coming up in May-June timeframe from both West Point and ROTC — I think it’s 44 women that have volunteered to be infantry lieutenants,” Milley said.
“If they meet all the appropriate standards — they will go through the various infantry schools, such as BOLC, the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Benning, Georgia — they will graduate in the fall.
“They’ll do follow-on training that is normal for infantry such as Ranger School, and if they continue to meet all those standards, then they will be assigned to infantry units sometime about this time next year … you will start seeing female infantry and armor officers, non-commissioned officers and junior soldiers in those combat units.”
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter reversed centuries of U.S. military tradition in December with the historic announcement that all military occupational specialties, including infantry, armor and special operations jobs, are now open to women.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, raised the concern that critics have said that the only way women will become infantry, Rangers and SEALS in real numbers is to lower standards.
“Do you plan to allow the lowering of standards and how do you plan to deal with these views from the leadership and junior personnel levels?” Gillibrand said.
“Absolutely not,” Milley responded. “Standards are standards, and those standards are developed through years upon years of blood-soaked lessons learned in combat. They are neither male nor female. They are combat standards.
“If you meet the standard for combat, then you pass go, collect $200 and move on your way. If you don’t, then you do something else in life.”
Army leaders must guard against lowering of standards, Milley said.
“If we do that, we are actually putting at risk the unit and the….
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