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“In a speech Tuesday morning before an auditorium packed with several hundred of the nation's most seasoned military commanders, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for an end to ‘woke’ culture in the military and railed against a litany of complaints such as diversity and probes into hazing…
“Hegseth -- who served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard and was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan -- issued new directives that will raise physical standards for everyone in uniform to a ‘male level,’ toughen grooming standards, lift restrictions on rules of engagement, do away with racial quotas, and end restrictions on hazing for boot camp recruits…
“Trump followed Hegseth with his own speech, saying that as president, he would have their backs and that he is committed to making the military ‘stronger, tougher, faster, fiercer and more powerful than it has ever been before.’ The president argued the military's job is not only to protect the U.S from threats abroad, but also what he repeatedly referred to as a domestic enemy in American cities.” ABC News
The left is critical of Hegseth’s speech and his focus on physical fitness.
“Standards in the military are enforced through memos, regulations, and inspections. Fitness requirements, appearance guidelines, conduct rules, and diversity policies are set by directive… Nothing in the content required hauling much of the U.S. military’s senior leadership to northern Virginia. Everything about the staging revealed what this administration values: spectacle over method, summons over orders, posture over plan…
“The security calculus was even worse than the optics. Concentrating a large fraction of the U.S. senior military leadership in a single auditorium creates a single point of failure—physical, cyber, and informational—at a moment of active crises. Standard practice favors dispersal and layered redundancy. You do not gather your top leadership unless you must.”
Brian O’Neill, The Contrarian
“Although he has backed away from the assertion he made in The War on Warriors that women should not be permitted to serve in combat roles under any circumstances, today he repeated previous false statements about combat-job standards being lowered to accommodate the Obama administration’s 2015 decision to open those roles to women…
“Hegseth has repeatedly conflated occupational or job-specific standards, which are gender-neutral, and physical-fitness or health-related standards, which in most services are adjusted for age and gender…
“[A] female officer we spoke with noted that Hegseth’s contention that new standards are necessary because combat doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman doesn’t square with his decision to roll out a new test that is gender-neutral but adjusted for age. ‘I’m fine with one standard,’ she told us. But ‘if you can’t distinguish between a woman and a man, then you can’t distinguish between a 20-year-old private and a 50-year-old general.’”
Nancy A. Youssef, The Atlantic
“[Hegseth] wants to restore the old-time, gung ho imagery… But the nature of military conflict is changing — on the drone-saturated battlefields of Ukraine and in the scenarios for deterring a tech-savvy China in the future. Beijing would be delighted if America focused on how many push-ups a soldier can do rather than how many computer tools he or she can use…
“The scariest part about Tuesday’s military pep rally [is that] President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — in their focus on grooming, fitness standards and ‘the enemy within’ — seem oblivious to the reality that 21st-century combat will be dominated by drones and artificial intelligence, plus commanders who understand these high-tech weapons.”
David Ignatius, Washington Post
The right praises Hegseth’s speech and his focus on physical fitness.
The right praises Hegseth’s speech and his focus on physical fitness.
“So what did Hegseth announce? Commonsense changes that are meant to return the United States military to a high state of readiness unencumbered by ‘woke’ baggage or politically mandated diversity directives… Basic training will be toughened, drill sergeants will be unleashed, grooming standards will be tightened and enforced, rules and regulations regarding hazing will be reviewed to ensure that commanders and NCOs are given a freer hand to discipline low performers…
“These initiatives will surely be popular with the troops, who will appreciate the emphasis on hard training and high standards and the sidelining of out-of-shape malingerers…
“The U.S. military has one purpose: to kill people and break things in defense of our Constitution and our way of life. If implemented with both verve and prudence, Pete Hegseth’s commonsense reforms will profit the American profession of arms.”
The Editors, National Review
“We spend more than $820 billion on our defense budget. Everything in our military, from equipment to people, should be top-tier… [Hegseth] informed our military leaders that new standards would apply to everyone, whether private or general, to begin to demonstrate this new idea. All military members must meet height and weight standards, and every member of the joint force at every rank must take a fitness test twice per year…
“Firm, high physical standards are a simple way to ensure that our military members remain ready for worst-case scenarios… It is not sexist to force women (or men) in combat to meet the same high standards or be disqualified. If this sounds harsh or exclusive to everyone else, it should. Our military should not be the same as our civilian world. It should be set apart, strive for excellence and be extraordinary in providing for our nation's defense.”
Nicole Russell, USA Today
Some note, “Mr. Hegseth’s line that he doesn’t want his son or anyone’s son serving in a unit that isn’t properly trained for a fight is a view shared by every American. But that includes not running out of long-range antiship missiles after mere days of fighting in the Taiwan Strait, or flying jets built in the Cold War…
“That will happen if the U.S. doesn’t spend more on defense than Mr. Trump’s apparent target of 3% of GDP. Mr. Trump isn’t telling Americans the truth when he claims to have rebuilt the military. On current trajectory he risks sending warriors into battle without the ships, submarines, bombers, fighters, drones or logistics support they need to prevail… The Defense Secretary’s talk of a ‘warrior ethos’ is welcome, but where are the weapons?”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
