Illinois lawmakers weigh in on defense secretary pick’s women in combat position

[November 27, 2024]  By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers disagree on the qualifications of President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran, on CBS said Hegseth is "flat-out wrong" in his view that women should not serve in the military in combat roles.

“Remember that the Pentagon is three million servicemen and women and civilians. It is over a $900 billion budget. He's never run anything anywhere near to that size,” said Duckworth, D-Schaumburg. “And frankly, women actually make our military more effective. For example, in my unit, I was often the only woman in an all male unit, and my gender wasn't a problem. I just adapted and we continued to perform the mission.”

State Rep. David Friess, a veteran, said if he had to guess Duckworth was offended by Hegseth’s comments he made while on the Shawn Ryan podcast.

"If you’re a female, you might take offense when you think women get slighted and I don’t think that was Pete’s motivation. I think he was just talking about physical realities that men are just strong for women,” said Friess, R-Red Bud. “What I am saying and what I think Pete’s saying. to be, for example, a Navy Seal, whatever the physical requirements are they should be the same for men and women.”

On the podcast, Hegseth said he doesn’t like women in combat.

“I love women service members who have contributed amazingly, because everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated and complication in combat means casualties for worse,” said Hegseth. “When you actually break down what they did in the studies to open the door for women in combat they just ignored them. Special Operations have held the line [in regards to women in combat] fairly well. If they were lowering the standard to become a Navy seal just to let women in … that’s going to change the capabilities of the Navy Seals.”

Earlier this month, Trump picked Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegseth has drawn criticism for his position on women in combat roles, along with his level of experience.

Duckworth, who in 2004 deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and sustained severe injuries when her helicopter was hit by an RPG, said Hegseth was a “pretty low ranking guy in the military,” and he “never had a command position.”

"Having served in combat yourself, what do you think of the idea that women make fighting more complicated?” asked a CBS host.

“He was a platoon leader, I think, once or twice, but he never even commanded a company. This is a man who is inordinately unqualified for the position,” said Duckworth.

Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra, Iraq, where he served first as an infantry platoon leader and later as a civil-military operations officer. Friess, who served in Desert Storm, said Hegseth is perfectly qualified and would love to see him in that position.

"There’s only so many positions within every unit, so he very well may have gotten that next promotion had he stayed longer, but if there was somebody there that had more time than him and their both equally qualified, then that person with more time is going to get that promotion over him [Hegseth],” said Friess.

Friess said the military “kills people” and they “blow things up” and that’s all that should be considered when a man or woman goes into the service. Friess suggested Duckworth is likely opposed to Hegseth’s position that skin color and gender is irrelevant when recruiting new service members or promoting them.