Securing America: Marines Delay Female Fitness Requirement

Women in combat

A boot camp delay reignites the debate over women in combat.

FOX News Radio’s Lisa Brady reports in our update on national security:

Securing America.

With the start of the new year, female Marines were supposed to meet a new minimum standard: Doing at least three pull-ups as part of their annual physical fitness test. But in a trial run in South Carolina, only 45% of female recruits met the minimum. So the requirement is being delayed and women will get a choice of upper-body strength tests: pull-ups or a flexed-arm hang. What they’re really trying to gauge is the strength needed to do things like scaling a wall or lifting heavy munitions. Beginning in 2016, the military is required to open as many combat jobs to women as possible. But military officials have insisted physical standards won’t be lowered in the process.

Lisa Brady, FOX News Radio.