The former Navy SEAL who shot Osama Bin Laden told a disbelieving Fox Business host on Tuesday that he’d serve in combat alongside a woman who had passed the standards to serve in special operations.
“These Islamic fighters, they don’t fear death, but they do fear hell and if they’re killed by women, they go to hell as far as they know. So lock and load ladies. If they don’t lower the standards and they can pass them, yeah, I think they should get a shot,” Rob O’Neill told Stuart Varney, host of Fox’s “Varney & Co.”
“Are you telling me that you’re perfectly OK going into a life-and-death situation with a woman by your side?” Varney asked incredulously.
O’Neill said he had served with women before and believes it’ll be tough for women to meet the standards, just like most men aren’t able to pass training to become a Navy SEAL. But if women are able to meet those same standards, O’Neill said women should get the same shot as men to serve as special operators.
“I think men have a sort of hunter-gatherer mentality. They go out and break things and kill people. I wonder if, I’m on dangerous ground here and I know it,” Varney said. “But you get where I’m coming from? You see my point?”
“I do see your point and I’ve heard it from my friends,” O’Neill said, noting that many special operators are concerned standards will be lowered to usher more women into previously closed specialties. “But if she can make it, then she deserves a shot.”
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced late last year that he would open all combat jobs, including special operations, to women. The positions are set to be open by April 1.
