WASHINGTON — A top Marine general predicted Friday that the Defense Department’s vows to maintain the same standards for women and men in combat jobs won’t last, saying the military will eventually be pressured to lower the qualifications so more women can serve in jobs like the Marine infantry.

The public comments by Gen. John Kelly, head of U.S. Southern Command, underscored how strongly the Marines opposed Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s plans to fully integrate women into all combat jobs, including the Marine Corps and special operations forces like Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets. A new, high-level disagreement is erupting over whether the Marine Corps must also fully integrate its 12-week recruit training program at Parris Island in South Carolina.

A top Marine general says the military will eventually be pressured to lower qualifications so more women can serve in jobs like the infantry. Defense Secretary Ash Carter plans to fully integrate women into all jobs. The Associated Press

“They’re saying we are not going to change any standards,” Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. “There will be great pressure, whether it’s 12 months from now, four years from now, because the question will be asked whether we’ve let women into these other roles, why aren’t they staying in those other roles? Why aren’t they advancing as infantry people?”

Kelly, who has been a Marine for 45 years and served three tours in Iraq, said the sole basis for change in the military should be whether the change will make units more lethal.

“If the answer to that is no, clearly don’t do it. If the answer to that is, it shouldn’t hurt, I would suggest that we shouldn’t do it, because it might hurt,” Kelly said.

Carter in December ordered all combat jobs open to women, but also vowed that no standards would be lowered to make way for women.

The Marine Corps initially sought to keep certain infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing studies showing combined-gender units are not as effective as male-only units, but they were rebuffed.

Carter’s December ruling said the military services should integrate women into combat jobs “using their existing recruiting, accession, training and assignment procedures.”

But on Jan. 1, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the Marines he wanted a plan by Jan. 15 for how the Marines would fully integrate their recruit training. And he said he wanted the integration to begin no later than April 1.

Under the current system, women who enlist in the Marine Corps go to Parris Island for their initial three months of recruit training and are assigned to one battalion. Men training there are assigned to three other battalions.

The Marine Corps says this gives women time to do early training and study with female drill instructors who can serve as role models, help them build confidence and develop the physical and other skills needed to progress. Marine leaders argue that the separation also minimizes distractions and harassment issues, while also better preparing the women to compete as they move into the next two levels of integrated training with men.

The other three services, however, do not separate women from men in basic training, although it is not unusual to have all-male platoons or battalions in training because there often aren’t enough women to populate all the units. Men and women have separate living quarters.

After the recruit training, the men and women go through Marine combat training together. They then move on to their formal training for their specific jobs, which also is integrated.

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