Breaking News: DoD Gathers Data to Review Status of Women in Combat

Jan 21

A disturbing announcement emerged over the Christmas holiday about the Pentagon launching a formal review of the “effectiveness” of women in ground-combat positions. News of the review stunned women who are currently serving in these positions, as well as veterans (male and female), and the entire THE FIGHT TO FIGHT documentary team.

The timing of the announcement comes a few months shy of the 10-year anniversary of the Department of Defense (DoD) inclusion of women in ground combat positions — a number that today is about 5,000 female soldiers and Marines in infantry, armor, and artillery units.

News of the review was broken by Tom Bowman of NPR. Details about the plan were outlined by Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel, Anthony Tata. Bowman’s report can be found by clicking here.

Fighting Bias and Discrimination

Leading voices in military matters, including members of THE FIGHT TO FIGHT film team, say the new DoD study is intended to be a pretext for purging women from combat units, a policy championed by Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Pete Hegseth. A few months before his confirmation as SecDef, Hegseth bluntly stated, “I am straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Dem. Illinois), an Iraq war veteran who appears in a major role in THE FIGHT TO FIGHT documentary, harshly criticized the Pentagon review, warning that taking women off the battlefield "would put us at a direct disadvantage to our adversaries."

Duckworth added in a statement: "This pretextual, rushed effort by the Trump Administration is clearly intended to shrink the number of women who bravely serve in combat roles, which would be devastating to our military readiness."

Ellen Haring and Kris Fuhr, who also appear in major roles in THE FIGHT TO FIGHT documentary, are quoted in the NPR story about the Pentagon review.

“It’s exactly what (Hegseth) said all along,“ said Haring, a retired Colonel with 30 years in uniform. “He’s against women in combat, and he’s going to get them out. It’s going to be an effort to prove women don’t belong.”

Kris Fuhr, a former West Point grad who has worked for many years on gender integration for the Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, points out the Pentagon’s new study is unnecessary because it’s already been done. Detailed data was collected by the Army from 2018 to 2023 and the results showed “no evidence of any degradation to unit readiness or effectiveness due of the presence of women.”

Final Pickup Shots Complete

As news of the Pentagon study broke, our production crew was filming final “pickup” shots. These brief scenes are important because they help us connect sequences and clarify information. They will also enable us to bring the film up to date, and include the recent news from the DoD.

With the final shots in the can, we have planted a stake in the ground and said good-bye to several wonderful members of our film crew, who have been a joy to work with during the past year. Of course, the highly talented Mark Romanov and brilliant Richard Hutton will continue to work actively on THE FIGHT TO FIGHT throughout the post-production phase…and beyond.

However, I will definitely miss Maxwell Frank and Johnny Harrington, who were wonderful travel companions and talented members of our incredible film crew.

With shooting complete we are now 100% involved in the heavy lifting of post-production work and simultaneously moving into the initial steps of devising an awareness and distribution plan.

Next Steps

We have been keeping ahead of the curve in terms of fundraising thanks to our generous community of supporters, however we still have some needs to be met in 2026.

For example, we are just over halfway to a “challenge” grant goal offered by the Pritzker Military Foundation. This grant doubles the impact of contributions by matching them dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000. Your support is especially critical now to help us get over the finish line.

Your support is also critical to women currently serving in the Army and Marines. The Pentagon uses phrases like “restoring the warrior culture” as a way to relabel efforts to drive fully qualified women who have met the same standards as their male peers out of combat units and stifle their path to top leadership positions.

So, please support these women by helping us tell their stories. Women had to fight for decades for their place on the frontlines, and now that progress is threatened. As we have been saying from the beginning of filming, THE FIGHT TO FIGHT is not over.

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Joy Bronson served as a Naval Aviator from 1986 to 1993 and is the Director/Producer of THE FIGHT TO FIGHT documentary feature film.

Help Us Spread the Word

The Fight to Fight documentary is at a pivotal stage and needs to show it can reach a big audience to get the film widely distributed. Donations are critical at this point, and so is sharing our website link, blog and social media posts. So please spread the FIGHT TO FIGHT message to friends, family and colleagues who are veterans or people concerned about the future of our military and fair treatment for women. Click here to donate and here to sign up for our blog.