Six days before he closed out a 45-year Marine Corps career, Gen. John Kelly sounded an alarm.

Kelly, who headed U.S. Southern Command before he retired on Jan. 14, was asked at his final Pentagon press conference to comment on Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s Dec. 3 decision that every combat job be opened to women who meet gender-neutral standards.

This and every decision impacting the military, Kelly answered, should have one parameter.

“Does it make us more lethal on the battlefield?”

If the answer “is, ‘It shouldn’t hurt,’ I would suggest that we shouldn’t do it because it might hurt,” Kelly said. His fear is that standards will be lowered, regardless of promises that they won’t be.

“There will be great pressure, whether it’s 12 months from now, four years from now, because the question will be asked (after) we’ve let women into these other roles, ‘Why aren’t they staying? Why aren’t they advancing? … Why aren’t they becoming … more senior?’ And the answer … will be ‘If we don’t change standards, it will be very, very difficult to have any … real numbers come into the infantry or the Rangers or the SEALs.'”

Lowering standards will be “the only way it’ll work (for) the agenda-driven people here in Washington,” Kelly said.

Attention now turns to Congress, where some lawmakers hope to modify Carter’s no-exception policy and will comb through individual services’ implementation plans. Other members of Congress will advocate for a swift opening of all combat skills and units to women who have the physical and mental toughness for the jobs.

About 10 percent of military positions – almost 220,000 jobs – remain closed to women, mostly in infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units. The Marine Corps was the only service to seek to exempt some front-line combat skills from gender integration. It argued mixed-gender units would be less capable in ground combat, and female Marines routinely would suffer more occupation-related injuries.

Carter rejected the request, saying combat effectiveness remains a priority but it can be preserved through adherence to gender-neutral standards.

“There will be women who can meet the physical requirements of these specialties, even as there are men who cannot,” Carter said.

By law, Carter must report to Congress on plans to open units or positions previously closed to women. He also must provide analysis on how removing all combat restrictions should impact the law governing a military draft. Only male 18-year-olds now need to register with Selective Service.

Congress will have 30 days to review Carter’s report and has authority to order changes.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairmen of the armed services committees, issued a joint statement promising a careful review.

Republicans, who form the majority on both committees, are said to fall into two camps: those awaiting more information and those opposed to Carter’s decision. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said there are at least as many like her who will oppose any delay. A retired Army National Guard officer, Duckworth lost both legs and partial use of an arm to a rocket-propelled grenade while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq.

Of Kelly’s comments, Duckworth said she’s “not surprised there would be a general somewhere who would say something along these lines. But … none of the women who are going to apply (and) meet the standards to serve in these units want the units to be less capable or less deadly.”

“If anything, the women will fight … to make sure standards aren’t lowered,” added Duckworth, who serves on the armed services committee.

Looking back, Duckworth said, “I couldn’t qualify for Ranger school, but a lot of the guys can’t, either. Whatever percentage of women can, even if it’s 2 percent, let them do the job.”

In the last 14 years, 161 U.S. military women have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, and 1,016 have been wounded.

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