When Elisa Smithers was deployed to Iraq in 2005, there was a ban on women serving in ground combat operations. She now fears the progress made for women in combat since then will be reversed after President-elect Donald Trump announced Pete Hegseth this week as his pick for secretary of defense – a Fox News host and Army veteran who has criticized efforts to allow women into combat roles.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has said that he believes women should not serve in combat and that he wants to see the military purged of “woke” officials who support diversity,

I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. The military kind of bud lighted itself looking for a new constituency and they turned off the normal masculine men. I don't think I've washed my hands for 10 years.

Hegseth has in the past also made disparaging comments about veterans groups who have advocated for combat veterans receiving disability benefits after returning home

Trump's appointment of Pete Hegseth as his defense secretary has sparked concern among the defense world due to his lack of experience.