On the recordJune 13, 2024
I found that, frankly, incredibly insulting and somewhat disappointing coming from a colleague and a fellow veteran. At the end of the day, those who are fighting for women to serve in all combat roles--which I will state again, despite the aspersions or projecting of motives here--cannot then say, well, they should have a lower standard in combat. Combat doesn't present a lower standard. It is one: life or death. When you are in a foxhole with fellow Americans, that is all that matters. Number two, I think to equate an experience as a helicopter pilot with what this amendment actually addresses--which are combat roles in the Army, not in the Navy, not in the Air Force, not with support roles, not with other specialties that, again, all Americans are welcome and should be welcome to serve in--either we haven't read the amendment or we have our own motives in place. It is hard to tell. At the end of the day, what we are seeing in Ukraine, what we are seeing in Gaza, and what we have seen in our experience in the Middle East is that combat on the ground in urban environments is brutally up close, dangerous, lethal, and at the end of the day regardless of race, religion, gender or anything else, you need to be able to hit the standards and training to be successful in a combat environment. Again, I would support my colleagues setting aside their political, I guess, biases and support this amendment. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
