WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the first steps toward changing combat arms standards for men and women over the weekend. In a video on X Monday, he said he will sign a memorandum to equalize the requirements for both sexes. 

“For far too long, we allowed standards to slip and different standards for men and women and combat arms, [military occupational specialties] and jobs. That’s not acceptable,” he said in the video recorded on his flight back from Japan, where he met with U.S. troops and allies to discuss deterrence in the Indo Pacific region. 

“We need to have the same standard — male or female — in our combat roles to ensure our men and women who are under our leaders or in those formations have the best possible leaders and the highest possible standards that are not based at all on your sex.”

Hegseth said the different branches of the armed services will review the memorandum. 

In 2013, the Pentagon overturned its ground combat exclusion policy and allowed women to serve in direct combat ground units. The Army currently uses gender-based standards for its combat fitness test.

During his confirmation hearing in January, Hegseth said he supported women in the military but wanted to review military standards to ensure they weren’t lowered for females. 

Two days after President Donald Trump was elected, and about one week before Hegseth became his nominee to run the Department of Defense, Hegseth told "The Shawn Ryan Show" podcast, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.