HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — (AP) — The first woman to command Canada’s military called out a U.S. 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 U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was asked on Friday whether President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, should retract comments that he believes 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 …