1978年，我加入美国陆军，担任军事警察。在我26年的军旅生涯中，我一步一个脚印晋升为军官。在这个过程中，我始终达到了陆军所要求的标准。
I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1978 as a military policewoman. During my 26 years in the service, I worked my way through the ranks to become an officer. At every point along the way, I met the standard the Army required.
这就是为什么我听到国防部长佩特·赫斯格建议降低标准以容纳女性进入军队时感到愤怒。事实并非如此。标准就是标准。你达到了，或者你没有达到。我毕业于基础训练时，是第一批男女混合训练的团体之一。
That’s why it angers me to hear Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggest that standards have been lowered to accommodate women in the military. They haven’t The standard is the standard. You meet it, or you don’t. I graduated from basic training as part of one of the first groups that integrated men and women.
1979年抵达第一工作单位时，我很快就被告知作为一名女性军事警察，我能做什么不能做什么。
When I arrived at my first duty station in 1979, I was quickly told what I could and couldn’t do as a female military police officer.
包括全国有色人种协会和全国妇女法律中心在内的33个组织上个月给赫斯格特的一封信，指控他错误地阻碍了黑人和女性军官的晋升，这些人曾被推荐晋升。
A total of 33 organizations, including the NAACP and the National Women’s Law Center, sent a letter to Hegseth last month accusing him of wrongly blocking the promotions of Black people and women officers who’ve been recommended for advancement.
五角大楼否认国防部长根据种族或性别做出晋升决定，但参、众两院的民主党人本周提出了《军官晋升诚信法案》，纽约参议员克里斯滕·吉利布兰德在新闻发布会上表示，该法案“将通过建立明确的标准、基本的正当程序和有意义的独立审查，保护合格的军官免受因意识形态或政治原因被任意取消晋升考虑资格。”我毕业于基础训练时，是第一批男女混合训练的团体之一。
The Pentagon has denied that the Defense secretary has made promotion decisions based on race or sex, but Democrats in the Senate and House this week introduced the Military Officer Promotion Integrity Act, which Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in a news release “would protect qualified military officers from being arbitrarily removed from promotion consideration for ideological or political reasons by establishing clear standards, basic due process, and meaningful independent review.”I graduated from basic training as part of one of the first groups that integrated men and women.
1979年抵达第一工作单位时，我很快就被告知作为一名女性军事警察，我能做什么不能做什么。女性不能单独工作或一起工作；总是需要有男性参与。即使在18岁时，我也知道这毫无道理。最终，我被安排在一个情况下，被告知我必须单独工作。我拒绝了。不是因为我不想做这份工作。
When I arrived at my first duty station in 1979, I was quickly told what I could and couldn’t do as a female military police officer. Women couldn’t work together or alone; there always had to be men involved. Even at 18, I knew that made no sense. Eventually, I was put in a situation where I was told I had to work alone. I refused. Not because I didn’t want to do the job.
我拒绝是因为他们自己的规定——我立刻反驳回去——告诉我不能这样做。
I refused because their own regulations, which I threw right back at them, said I couldn’t.
第二天早上，我坐在中士办公室里挨训，并收到了一份辅导声明。但另一件事也发生了。规定发生了变化，允许女性单独执勤——以及协同执勤。我们最初为何被禁止这样做？因为有人认定女性无法胜任。
The next morning, I was sitting in the first sergeant’s office getting chewed out and receiving a counseling statement. But something else happened. The regulations changed, allowing women to work alone — and work together. Why had we been prohibited from doing it in the first place? Because somebody had decided women couldn’t handle it.
五角大楼将审查女性在战斗中的角色，女性战斗老兵对此不满 2026年2月6日 在2024年接受一位播客主持人采访时，也就是在他上任之前，赫格塞思曾表示，“担任这些职位的男性能力更强”。去年，他在弗吉尼亚州匡蒂科向军事领导人发表演讲时，宣布了一项政策，称该政策将确保“所有指定的战斗兵种职位回归到我所见过的最高男性标准”。在我的整个职业生涯中，我都看到了赫格塞思这种态度的各种版本。
Pentagon to review role of women in combat and women combat veterans are not happy February 6, 2026 In a 2024 interview with a podcaster, that is, before he was in office, Hegseth said that “men in those positions are more capable.”In a speech to military leaders last year in Quantico, Va., he announced a policy that he said would make sure “every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard I saw versions of Hegseth’s attitude throughout my career.
1985年，我参加了跳伞学校培训，由第10特种部队分队的成员授课。毕业那天，一些男学员走到我面前，因为我是女性学员中军衔最高的。他们告诉我，他们印象深刻。他们对我们的出色表现感到惊讶。他们不习惯与女性共事。但我们完成了任务。我们证明了自己。
In 1985, I went to Jump School, where I was taught by members of the 10th Special Forces Group. On graduation day, some of the guys came up to me because I was the ranking female. They told me they were impressed. They were surprised by how well we had done. They weren’t used to working with women. But we had done the job. We had proven ourselves.
即便如此，那种认为女性必须证明自己属于这里的假设一直伴随着我。当我晋升为上校时，有人向我表示祝贺，随后立刻告诉我，有多少值得晋升的男性未能晋升，因为军队不得不晋升如此多的女性和黑人服役人员。想想他们真正想表达的是什么：女性胜任战斗岗位：伊莉丝·乔丹反驳赫格塞思 2024年12月16日 我在陆军体能测试中得分超过300分，而一位战友却觉得有必要指出，女性在俯卧撑、仰卧起坐和跑步方面有不同的要求。
Even so, their assumption that women had to prove they belonged followed me. When I was promoted to major, someone congratulated me and then immediately told me how many deserving men weren’t getting promoted because the military had to promote so many women and so many Black service members. Think about what they were really saying: Women in combat handle it fine: Elise Jordan pushes back against Hegseth December 16, 2024 I scored more than 300 points on my Army physical fitness test, and a brother-in-arms felt the need to point out that women had different requirements for push-ups, sit-ups, and running.
于是，我让他用我的年龄，然后把我取得的成绩按照男性标准进行换算。结果如何？我在每个项目上都处于前10%的水平。因为无论如何看，女性始终符合我们武装部队的标准。
So, I told him to take my age, then take what I’d done and apply the male standards to my scores. How did I do? I was in the 90th percentile in every category. Because no matter how you cut it, women continue to meet the standard for our armed forces.
正因如此，我对赫格塞斯谈论“”的方式感到不满。我们为什么要这么称呼呢？如果一名士兵需要举起特定重量的物品才能完成任务，那就以此作为标准。如果一名士兵需要在特定时间内跑完特定距离，那就以此作为标准。如果一名士兵需要展示特定技能来确保身边战友的生存，那就以此作为标准。这样，每个人都能达到标准。因为能够硬拉343磅，并不会自动让一个人成为更优秀的士兵。
That’s why I have a problem with the way Hegseth talks about the “” Why are we calling it that? If a soldier needs to lift a certain amount of weight to do the job, then make that the standard. If a soldier needs to run a certain distance in a certain amount of time, make that the standard. If a soldier needs to demonstrate a specific skill to keep the person next to them alive, make that the standard. Then everybody meets it. Because being able to deadlift 343 pounds doesn’t automatically make someone a better soldier.
2025年1月14日，参议员沃伦关注赫格塞斯对女性参战态度的突然转变。赫格塞斯解散了国防部女性服役顾问委员会——这个组织几十年来一直致力于研究女性在军队中的经历与挑战。我认为，我们不应仅仅因为这项研究不符合关于“政治正确性”的政治论调，就否定其价值。26年来，我看到女性被反复告知她们能做什么、不能做什么。
Senator Warren focuses on Hegseth’s sudden shift on women in combat January 14, 2025 Hegseth eliminate d the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, an organization that had spent decades examining the experiences and challenges facing women in the military. I don’t think we should dismiss the value of that work simply because it doesn’t fit neatly into a political argument about “wokeness.”For 26 years, I watched women get told what they could and couldn’t do.
但随后，我又看到这些女性依然完成了所有任务。我们独自服役，也并肩作战。我们从飞机上跳伞，我们领导部队，我们获得晋升，我们达到了体能要求，并且我们始终在证明自己。我相信标准。我花了26年时间达到了这些标准。但我所不相信的是，将“标准”这个词用作再次告诉女性“我们不属于这里”的工具。我以前就听过这种论调，而我也一直看到女性不断证明这种说法是错误的。
And then I watched those same women do the jobs anyway. We served alone. We served together. We jumped out of airplanes. We led troops. We got promoted. We met physical requirements. And we kept proving ourselves. I believe in standards. I spent 26 years meeting them. What I don’t believe in is using the word “standards” as a way to tell women, once again, that we don’t belong. I’ve heard that argument before. And I’ve continued to watch women prove it wrong. The post I didn’t spend 26 years in the Army to be disrespected by Pete Hegseth MS NOW