Army says call for ‘average-looking women’ in photos is not its official position

The comments were “were an internal email conversation” and “not an Army position,” spokesman George Wright told Politico.

A source leaked the original email from Col. Lynette Arnhart, which read, in part, “In general, ugly women are perceived as competent while pretty women are perceived as having used their looks to get ahead.”

She continued:

Arnhart, who is the head of a team focusing on how to integrate women into combat, originally sent the email to only two people. One of those recipients, Col. Christian Kubik, chief of public affairs for the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, forwarded the message to all public affairs officers working with the command, with a note asking them to use photos that are “typical, not exceptional.”