The overwhelming majority of special operations troops are against opening their jobs to women, according to documents that informed Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s decision to let women serve in most combat positions.
The study, which surveyed troops from several special operations communities across the branches, found that 85 percent opposed letting women into their specialty and 71 percent didn’t want women serving in their unit. While opposition existed among all services and ranks, the study found the highest opposition among Navy SEALs, Air Force special operations command special tactics team members, and non-commissioned officers.
“Based on our survey of [special operations forces] personnel, opposition to opening SOF specialties to women is both deep and wide, with high levels of opposition across all SOF elements. This opposition is also deep-seated and intensely felt,” the report said.
The Defense Department posted the RAND Corp. study about integrating women into special operations online over the weekend, along with several other reports reviewed by senior leaders in making the decision to open all combat positions to women last week. The vast majority of reports online are from the Marine Corps, the only service to ask to keep some positions male-only.
U.S. Special Operations Command did not ask for any exceptions.
For the special operations study, the results come from 7,618 survey responses from those serving in special operations positions previously closed to women between May and July 2014, as well as focus group sessions with more than 400 special operations personnel.
The main concerns outlined by special operators were that women would be unable to meet the demands of serving in special operations combat specialties, that unit cohesion would suffer in mixed-gender units, and that standards would be lowered to allow women to qualify.
The study stressed that these fears were based on the perceptions of special operators, not the reality of integrating women, since no women currently served in their units.
Carter said he believes all of these worries can be addressed in the implementation process, which will begin early next year after services have submitted their final plans to lift the ban on women in combat across the force.
The defense secretary said military leaders must work to assure troops that integration will only improve, not harm, combat effectiveness.
“Leaders have to be clear that mission effectiveness comes first, and I’m confident that given the strength of our leaders throughout the ranks, over time, these concerns will no longer be an issue,” Carter said Thursday when announcing the historic decision.
Carter also said physical differences between the average man and woman would be taken into consideration during implementation and that any decision about who serves in what position must be made with improved force effectiveness as the main goal.
