The first woman to command Canada's military called out a US senator on Saturday for questioning the role of women in combat. Gen. Jennie Carignan responded to comments made by Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the AP reports. Risch made the remarks on Friday when asked whether President-elect Trump's nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, should retract his statement that men and women should not serve together in combat units.
"I think it's delusional for anybody to not agree that women in combat creates certain unique situations that have to be dealt with. I think the jury's still out on how to do that," Risch said during a panel session at the Halifax International Security Forum on Friday. Carignan, Canada's chief of defense staff and the first woman to command the armed forces of any Group of 20 or Group of Seven country, took issue with those remarks during a panel session on Saturday. "I wouldn't want anyone to leave this forum with this idea that women are a distraction to defense and national security," Carignan said.
"After 39 years of career as a combat arms officer and risking my life in many operations across the world, I can't believe that in 2024, we still have to justify the contribution of women to their defense and to their service, in their country," Carignan said. "I wouldn't want anyone to leave this forum with this idea that it is some kind of social experiment." Carignan said women have participating in combat for hundreds of years, noting the female military personnel in the room. "All the women sitting here in uniform, stepping in, and deciding to get into harm's way and fight for their country, need to be recognized for doing so," she said. "So again, this is the distraction, not the women themselves." Carignan received a standing ovation at the forum, which draws defense and security officials from Western democracies.
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