When Elisa Smithers was deployed to Iraq in 2005, there was a ban on women serving in ground combat operations. She now fears the progress made for women in combat since then will be reversed after President-elect Donald Trump announced Pete Hegseth this week as his pick for secretary of defense – a Fox News host and Army veteran who has criticized efforts to allow women into combat roles.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he intends to nominate former Representative Doug Collins for secretary of veterans affairs. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform,

President-elect Donald Trump tapped a longtime ally for his cabinet Thursday, nominating former congressman Doug Collins to lead the Veterans Affairs department. Collins, 58, represented rural northern Georgia for eight years before retiring from Congress following an unsuccessful 2020 campaign for US Senate.