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Women who were enlisted in the US military are responding against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's statement that standards for combat roles will "return to the top male standard," saying the criteria have historically been the same for men and women.

"None of us have at any point asked for preferential treatment," a former US Navy service member, who was enlisted for five years, explained reporters.

Speaking numerous generals on Tuesday, Hegseth reiterated his beliefs that the military had lowered requirements to accommodate female personnel and put service members at risk. His new directives would bring them back to a more rigorous standard, he said.

"If it means no women meet the criteria for frontline roles, then so be it," he remarked.

He maintained that female personnel would not be barred from the military completely.

Several women who served were outraged.

"I'm sick and tired of Pete Hegseth lying about female service members and requirements," former US Marine fighter pilot Amy McGarth declared in a video.

"It has consistently been a single benchmark for such positions," she added. "There was never a male requirement or a woman's standard for operating an aircraft."

The Navy veteran, too, said that gender and age were not part of assessments given for combat roles.

Combat standards are set differently based on the unit a person is assigned to, if they are in special operations, infantry, armored divisions or rescue teams, she stated. Nonetheless, all personnel in those roles have to pass the identical assessment.

"These standards have consistently been unbiased, and they have historically been established at a high standard," she said. "Of course, some females are going to meet them, but not all men fail as well."

This is not the same for the yearly fitness assessments administered to all service members, which include routine exercises like upper-body exercises. There, the requirements and results vary according to age and gender, and the tests differ by unit.

The veteran said it remains unclear if Hegseth will actually implement sweeping changes to how service members are evaluated.

In his address, Hegseth said: "Wherever that proven physical standards were altered, particularly since recent years, when military standards were changed to ensure women could meet criteria, must be restored to their original standard."

He appeared to refer to a directive in 2015 by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter that all military jobs be open to female personnel and that any person, irrespective of gender, who meets the standards should be able to enlist.

"When it comes to any job that requires strength to execute in combat, those fitness requirements must be high and gender neutral," Hegseth remarked. "If women can make it, excellent. Otherwise, it is what it is."

Broadly, Hegseth said he was changing requirements throughout the armed forces to "fix decades of decay" and that the military have "advanced an excess of uniformed leaders for the incorrect motives," like race, gender and "notable initial achievements."

Lawmaker Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who was severely injured while serving as a military aviator in Iraq, told media outlets after the speech: "From someone who's not qualified for his position, it's quite discriminatory to discuss females who are qualified to perform their duties."

She added that his remarks could hurt recruitment.

Female personnel in the US military were initially permitted to fly combat aircraft in the air and sea branches in 1993, although they were excluded from ground combat. This shifted in recent years when the restriction on female combat roles was lifted and by 2016 military positions were available for everyone.

Due to how recently women were included in every level, numerous are currently in the midst of their careers, the veteran explained.

"It takes time to observe females break that brass ceiling, and we haven't had a chance to see that," she stated.

Now active and veteran female soldiers are concerned that Hegseth is building a armed forces environment where women will be marginalized and prevented from progressing, she said.

"Leadership establishes the atmosphere," she added.

Not all women in uniform disagreed with Hegseth's comments.

Republican House Representative Sheri Biggs, who was enlisted as a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, said in a announcement that she backed the defence secretary's initiatives to end "progressive" directives from the military.

"Reverting to requirements that emphasize high quality and responsibility places national defense and our servicemembers where they belong — foremost," Biggs said.

Another South Carolina Republican, Representative Nancy Mace, who completed studies at The Citadel military college, posted on online platforms in favor of Hegseth.

"Our enemies are not intimidated by inclusion metrics. They fear US military strength," she wrote.