Pete Hegseth wants the military to be merit based without any evidence that it wasn't currently. Speaking of merit, he himself is nominated for a position that he has the least amount of "merit" of any nominee ever. Period. He believes that women are not qualified to serve in combat. He has said the same for a decade. Ignore his change of heart at the hearing. It's like the last two supreme court nominees who lied to senator's during their confirmation hearings that Roe was settled law, but then changed the law as soon as they were on the bench.