Everything was set for the Navy officer to take over a new role that would have capped an already distinguished career— and made her the first woman in a Naval Special Warfare command overseeing Navy SEALs. Ranked the top officer for promotion in her cohort, she received a Purple Heart after being injured in an IED attack during a combat tour in Iraq. She then became the first woman to serve with SEAL Team Six in the role of troop commander, one of several senior positions within the squadrons that make up the elite naval unit. A formal ceremony marking her new position was planned for July. Invitations went out two months in advance.
But just two weeks before the ceremony, her command was abruptly canceled with little explanation (according to a new report by CNN). The decision didn’t come through formal channels but by a series of phone calls from the Pentagon, which was designed to omit a paper trail, according to multiple sources. With no command slot to take, under the Navy’s “up or out” policy, the officer’s more than two-decade military career is now effectively over. As the news spread through the tight-knit world of Naval Special Warfare, a consensus began to form: The command was likely yanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth because of the officer’s gender.
The command she was set to take over is closely aligned with recruiting for elite operations roles, including the Navy SEALs — and the impression those in the Naval Special Warfare community got from the Pentagon was that Hegseth did not want a woman fronting that role.
A Pentagon official familiar with the situation said the command was pulled because the Navy captain wasn’t herself a SEAL, and that Hegseth was not involved. But multiple people familiar with the dynamics of Navy personnel matters scoffed at those explanations. A broad panel of the most elite Navy SEAL leaders selected her for the new command. “They can [try to] justify it by saying she’s not qualified because she’s not a SEAL,” said one retired SEAL. “But the SEALs thought she was qualified.” To this person, the revoked command was a clear symptom of Hegseth’s views about women in the military. He said he believes the commander was removed because Hegseth is sexist. “I’m sure they would repeal the whole women in combat thing [if they could], but this is what they can do,” the retired SEAL added.
Her story is further evidence of what many in the military now fear is a culture of misogyny permeating the armed forces under Hegseth. Many active-duty women have said they also know of other female service members who had recently been passed over for deserved promotions. Others said they are now considering leaving the military.
Hegseth has already removed several women from prominent leadership roles, including firing Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the highest-ranking officer in the US Navy and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That currently leaves the US without a female four-star general, the military’s highest rank. Two years ago, there were four.
In a speech to generals in Quantico, Virginia, in September, Hegseth announced his vision for rolling back policies aimed at promoting diversity or accommodating troops. Among these were fitness standards that he claimed were eased in recent years to make it possible for women to serve in combat roles. In his speech, Hegseth vowed to implement fitness tests that would be judged to “the highest male standard.” “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” Hegseth said. But the fact is that Hegseth’s claims are blatantly false—the physical standards for combat positions are already gender-neutral. For the Navy captain whose command orders were revoked, she met every physical standard (according to multiple sources)-- including being able to perform 25-pound weighted pull-ups.
According to a retired senior enlisted Navy SEAL who served with the Navy Captain denied a promotion, there was never any question about her qualifications for the role. “She was the best man for the job. There is absolutely no DEI ,” the retired SEAL said, adding that the captain spent her spare time competing in IRONMAN races. She would have overseen bomb disposal technicians and divers in addition to Navy SEALs, three communities in which she had worked. “She’s a badass, and also extremely smart and capable,” the retired SEAL said.
For Hailey Gibbons, an Army veteran who was among the first women to graduate from Ranger School after it was opened to women a decade ago, the idea that women aren’t meeting the same standards as men is “laughable.” Her initial physical test at Ranger School – a grueling two-month training course – was the same as her male comrades, she said: 49 pushups, 59 sit-ups, and a five-mile run in under 40 minutes, plus six chin-ups.
Another woman in the Army (an enlisted soldier in a combat arms unit) said that she is already feeling real-life effects of Hegseth’s September speech. Following the secretary’s remarks, she said a male non-commissioned officer in her unit told her: “All you women are getting out now.” “I want nothing to do with the military after this,” she said.
For the Navy captain whose change of command was canceled she’s now unexpectedly winding down a trailblazing career in the Navy. It makes her former SEAL Team Six teammate furious. “It’s fuckin’ bullshit. That’s horse shit,” the former senior enlisted SEAL said. He voted for and supports Trump, but says he thinks Secretary Hegseth’s personal views are blinding him from retaining obvious talent at the expense of some of the military’s most elite war fighters. “I think my job is to protect women and children but occasionally there’s badass [women] out there, and we should capitalize and not limit ourselves,” he said.
The Navy special operations source familiar with the matter lamented that one of the captain’s passions had been recruiting women to special operations roles. Now pulling the woman’s command could cut off access for other female service members, the person said. “It pisses me off because it is clearly someone who is capable and has done extraordinary things and is being punished because of — and I hate that I have to say it this way — weak-ass men,” they said.
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