Former Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Rob O'Neill said on Tuesday that he supports women joining the nation's elite special operations teams, becoming the highest-profile special operations veteran to support the controversial effort. who can surcombat jobs, he told the host of Fox Business Network's Varney and Company on Tuesday.​

O'Neill, who rose to fame in 2014 when he claimed to be the operator who shot and killed Osama bin Laden, said women should get the chance even though few are likely to make the cut, in an appearance on a Fox Business show hosted by made an appearance on the show, hosted by ​Stuart Varney, who turned the conversation to the Defense Department's recent announcement that every job in the military will be open to women this year​.

"Can I ask you for a flat-out judgment?" Varney said. "Do you think women should be part of special-op teams that go in and shoot down Osama bin Laden?"

 

O'Neill voiced his support, bucking the trend of high-ranking officers, special operators and other combat veterans decrying the move

, voiced his support

​.

"If they don't lower the standards and they can pass them, sure," he said.

He has been on missions with women, he said. They are often used to search women and children, in deference to cultural sensitivities toward men in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Plus, he added, women fighting has a psychological element in these countries.

"I know that these Islamic fighters, they don't fear death, but they do fear hell," he said. "And if they're killed by women, they go to hell as far as they know. Lock and load, ladies."

Surprised by O'Neill's answer, a bemused Varney explained that he'd never shot a gun in anger and hardly been in a fist fight.

"I don't understand combat, but are you telling me that you're perfectly okay going into a life and death situation with a woman by your side?" he asked.

Eighty percent of men fail out of SEAL training, and O'Neill predicted that an even higher number of women would fail. However, he said, "men and women working together is better."

"If she can make it, then she deserves a shot," O'Neill said.

Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.

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