Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to meet on short notice in Virginia

[nycfan]

A Novice Defense Secretary Lectures the Brass on What It Takes to Win​

Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. They got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.

Hegseth Lectures Military Brass on ‘Woke’ Leaders, Fitness and Grooming

Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. They got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.

www.nytimes.com

“… Mr. Hegseth’s vision of the military and what it should be was almost entirely defined by his 12 months of service in Iraq and his experience as a major in the Army National Guard.

Much of his address focused on the kinds of issues he would have dealt with as a young platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq or as a company commander in the Guard. He talked about grooming standards. “No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression,” he told the brass. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave, shave our beards and adhere to standards.”

… “He views the world from the point of view of a not terribly successful major in the National Guard,” said Eliot Cohen, a military historian who served in the State Department under President George W. Bush. “For him it’s push-ups, pull-ups and pugil sticks. It’s aggressiveness.”

… Mr. Hegseth delivered his speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Northern Virginia clad in an American flag belt buckle and standing in front of a giant American flag. The backdrop mirrored the portrayal of Gen. George S. Patton in the 1970 movie bearing his name.…”

 

[nycfan]

A Novice Defense Secretary Lectures the Brass on What It Takes to Win​

Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. They got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.

Hegseth Lectures Military Brass on ‘Woke’ Leaders, Fitness and Grooming

Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. They got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.

www.nytimes.com

“… Mr. Hegseth’s vision of the military and what it should be was almost entirely defined by his 12 months of service in Iraq and his experience as a major in the Army National Guard.

Much of his address focused on the kinds of issues he would have dealt with as a young platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq or as a company commander in the Guard. He talked about grooming standards. “No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression,” he told the brass. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave, shave our beards and adhere to standards.”

… “He views the world from the point of view of a not terribly successful major in the National Guard,” said Eliot Cohen, a military historian who served in the State Department under President George W. Bush. “For him it’s push-ups, pull-ups and pugil sticks. It’s aggressiveness.”

… Mr. Hegseth delivered his speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Northern Virginia clad in an American flag belt buckle and standing in front of a giant American flag. The backdrop mirrored the portrayal of Gen. George S. Patton in the 1970 movie bearing his name.…”

“… Mr. Hegseth said one of his major tasks has been to separate those officers who were truly invested in the changes that he believed had weakened the force and those who were grudgingly following lawful orders.

In his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors,” Mr. Hegseth maintained that women were not mentally suited to combat roles. “Women bring life into the world,” he wrote. “Their role in war is to make it a less deathly experience.”

…
But he insisted that he did not want to prevent women from serving in combat roles. Rather, Mr. Hegseth said, he wanted to hold them to the “highest male standard.”

“If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” he added.

His goal seemed to be to turn back the clock to the simpler, more straightforward World War II era. He noted repeatedly that this was the last time the United States won “a major theater war.”

The nostalgia-soaked speech, though, did not acknowledge how much had changed in the past 75 years.…”

—> Hegseth Lectures Military Brass on ‘Woke’ Leaders, Fitness and Grooming

 

[rodoheel]

Misogynistic tones aside, I think this is a good idea. We should have high physical requirements for certain roles in society and they shouldn't be lowered.

I don't think anybody disagrees with the armed forces having some sort of minimum physical standard for entry. But the reality is that the majority - probably vast majority - of positions within the umbrella of the service branches are not positions that, first and foremost, require immense physical prowess. Doctors/nurses, quartermasters/procurement/logistics, signals, cyber ops, community relations, JAG, IT, etc - these are all positions where things like dexterity, composure, organizational skills, mental acuity, and integrity are far more important than physical fitness. As many have noted, things like drones are becoming far more important on a modern battlefield, and I don't think anyone should give a crap how many pushups our drone operators and repair techs can do or how their facial hair is styled.

In this intense focus on physical fitness and appearance - and dismissiveness towards things like respect, dignity, and integrity - Hegseth and Trump are taking our military backward, not forward. There is not one iota of evidence that a lack of physical fitness or supposedly soft training standards or lack of grooming or discipline or whatever are eroding the effectiveness of our military. There is not any conflict Hegseth and Trump can point to where our military lost or was outclassed somehow because it wasn't tough or fierce or "lethal" enough. This is simply two TV personalities with little knowledge or care for what actually makes a modern military successful who want a military that looks good on the propaganda reels. You can hear echoes of all those dipshit commentators from the last few years posting those supposedly telling side-by-side photos of the Russian military (bunch of barrel chested white dudes flexing with their shirts off) versus the US military (some sort of photo of women and minorities supposedly looking out of shape and unable to fight). Ignoring that it has been demonstrated time and again that the modern US military can run circles around the Russian military, which has been absolutely embarrassed in Ukraine. Turns out having big muscles and zero brain cells is not particularly helpful when a teenager 100 miles away is using a drone to drop a grenade on your head.

Hegseth and Trump are just two overgrown children who embody the entire ethos of the Trump philosophy, which is to focus on looking good rather than being good. They are showman by nature, and they want a military that can put on a show. They walk around peacocking about the "War Department" while ignoring that their primary directive is to avoid having to go to war and that the vast majority of the people under their command spend the vast majority of their time doing things other than fighting wars. Instead of building a modern military based on respect, integrity, and cooperation - one appropriate for a highly developed nation that needs a military to protect and defend, not to conquer foreign territory - they want a military full of bodybuilding psychos who use racial slurs, chase tail, and spend their spare time kicking each other in the balls to build "toughness." It's an absolute joke, and if that philosophy prevails for too long, it will result in a much less effective military, IMO.

 

[dukeman92]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Trump said yesterday that he wants American cities to be used as 'training grounds' for the military. Is that the highest and best use of the military?

MIKE JOHNSON: I run the House. And what we need to be talking about today is real harm that the American people are going to feel because of what Schumer is doing.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hold on a second. Answer the question. As Speaker, do you believe it's appropriate to use American cities as training grounds for the military, calling those people 'the enemy within'?

JOHNSON: I'm not comment on your characterization of what the president said.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Those are quotes. They are not characterizations.

JOHNSON: Well you can take his quotes out of context, which you often do, and I don't think that's fair to the president.

 

[rodoheel]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Trump said yesterday that he wants American cities to be used as 'training grounds' for the military. Is that the highest and best use of the military?

MIKE JOHNSON: I run the House. And what we need to be talking about today is real harm that the American people are going to feel because of what Schumer is doing.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hold on a second. Answer the question. As Speaker, do you believe it's appropriate to use American cities as training grounds for the military, calling those people 'the enemy within'?

JOHNSON: I'm not comment on your characterization of what the president said.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Those are quotes. They are not characterizations.

JOHNSON: Well you can take his quotes out of context, which you often do, and I don't think that's fair to the president.

LOL what a pathetic excuse of a man. Trump should walk around with Johnson on a leash, it's basically what happens anyway.

 

[Enigma94]

The new buzzword on the right is "context". In their view it justifies anything they say no matter how vapid and offensive it may be. Good luck getting them to ever explain what the context is that explains the idiotic comments they make.

 

[mynameisbond]

The new buzzword on the right is "context". In their view it justifies anything they say no matter how vapid and offensive it may be. Good luck getting them to ever explain what the context is that explains the idiotic comments they make.

That's the correct response. 'Then explain the correct context for what he meant, please'
They need to be held accountable for deflections.

 

[HeelInTheOzarks]

I'm someone who is both extremely alarmed and highly disgusted at the rhetorical display Hegseth and Trump put on yesterday, and also highly skeptical that they actually have the testicular fortitude- or more importantly, the true following in the military ranks- to pull off what they were boasting about yesterday. MAGA is almost always all bluster at all times, and it's all fun and games to talk on the internet about war and enemies within and eradicating liberals in city streets. But there are a whole lot of people with a whole lot of guns and a whole lot of ammo in this country who aren't really keen on having American citizens killed on the streets of American cities. MAGAts always seem to forget that we non-MAGAt conservatives and liberals have guns, too. There's a whole lot of places in areas like Memphis, New Orleans, Birmingham, St. Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, etc. that Trump and Hegseth are errantly thinking would just roll over for a bunch of inbreds cosplaying as soldiers.

That's exactly what they want. They are praying someone shoots an ICE agent, or a National Guard member patrolling Chicago, etc. That gives them the pretext to do what they REALLY want.

 

[lawtig02]

That's the correct response. 'Then explain the correct context for what he meant, please'
They need to be held accountable for deflections.

Doesn't matter. What Rush, Hannity, Shapiro, Kirk, et al. have taught Pub politicians is you can ALWAYS find a way to deflect. You NEVER have to actually answer the question, and eventually, the questioner will move on to something else.

 

[HeelInTheOzarks]

Doesn't matter. What Rush, Hannity, Shapiro, Kirk, et al. have taught Pub politicians is you can ALWAYS find a way to deflect. You NEVER have to actually answer the question, and eventually, the questioner will move on to something else.

And if they DON'T move on to something else, and keep pressing the same question, it is the interviewer who will be painted as a radical.

 

[superrific]

Hegseth's speech bears more than passing resemblance to the famous "you can't handle the truth" speech by Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men.

I'll bet that, deep down in places he don't talk about at parties, Hegseth wants to be Colonel Nathan Jessup.

 

[CFordUNC]

That's exactly what they want. They are praying someone shoots an ICE agent, or a National Guard member patrolling Chicago, etc. That gives them the pretext to do what they REALLY want.

I totally agree with this- you're exactly right that that is exactly what they want. Hopefully nobody gives it to them.

There is a reason that they are spending all of their time prancing around and taking selfies with tourists in places like the National Mall, Times Square, the Magnificent Mile, and so on, though. They aren't going into places like Harlem, Anacostia, Washington Park, South Memphis, and the Ninth Ward for a specific reason.

 

[superrific]

I would bet a significant amount of money that Pete Hegseth thinks Tom Cruise was the villain in “A Few Good Men” and Jack Nicholson was a hero who got railroaded by the woke mob.

Oh, shit. I just posted the same thing. I hadn't seen your post. Haha. At least my closing line was a bit better . . . lol

 

[rodoheel]

Oh, shit. I just posted the same thing. I hadn't seen your post. Haha. At least my closing line was a bit better . . . lol

Haha, you did have a better line, but personally I suspect Hegseth says that kind of stuff openly at parties, rather than hiding it deep down.

 

[superrific]

The facial hair bullshit is being justified by the need to don protective equipment against chemical weapons. Their pretexts are increasingly implausible.

In reality, it's a way to get black people and religious minorities out of the service.

I'd love for some Christians to sue him over this policy and watch Kavanaugh's and Alito's heads explode trying to reconcile their authoritarianism and their "religious freedom" impulses.

 

[superrific]

Haha, you did have a better line, but personally I suspect Hegseth says that kind of stuff openly at parties, rather than hiding it deep down.

Nah. He says that stuff openly after being kicked out of the parties. We good now?

 

[rodoheel]

Nah. He says that stuff openly after being kicked out of the parties. We good now?

Ha, maybe three years ago he was getting kicked out of the parties, but not anymore, man. This is the MAGA-ascendant era. They don't feel like they have to hide it anymore.

 

[superrific]

Ha, maybe three years ago he was getting kicked out of the parties, but not anymore, man. This is the MAGA-ascendant era. They don't feel like they have to hide it anymore.

Well, I was thinking more that he would be kicked out after a dozen beers and some SoCo, but yeah he can probably do that these days too.

 

[nycfan]

Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream​

A man who retired as a major lectures hundreds of generals about the need to meet his standards.
By Eliot A. Cohen

—> Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream

“… There is a certain kind of Army officer who, after the excitement of company command, finds his career stalled, and who perhaps leaves the service as a major in the National Guard filled with bitterness and resentment. He may then dream of one day being in a position to make all the superior officers who failed to appreciate his leadership qualities, his insight, his sheer fitness stand to attention and hear him lay down the law about what it is to be an officer, and threaten to fire those who do not meet his standards.

In this respect, and this respect only, on that stage Pete Hegseth was living the dream.

In all other respects, however, he was ridiculous. While much of what he said was unobjectionable (working out and getting haircuts are good things, after all), it was the kind of thing that a battalion commander might say to some scruffy lieutenants and sergeants. Indeed, Hegseth could not help himself, using we when he mentioned those in the service. The whole point of having a secretary of defense is that he or she is a civilian, first and foremost, and not a soldier.

Hegseth’s examples, moreover, were drawn primarily from the only military things he knows firsthand—that is, the kind of tactics, training, and maintenance that a captain in charge of 150 soldiers has to worry about.

His dream world is the world of Ranger school (from which he never graduated), not the actual world of complex military operations involving land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace. One could not help but suspect that his time as a company-grade officer was the high point of the career of someone whose family life was ridden with multiple failures, whose attempts to run nonprofit organizations ran aground, and whose fame and wealth came from journalism, a profession he sincerely despises. He stuck with what he knows and genuinely reveres. Unfortunately for the country, he seems unable to transcend it.…”

 

[nycfan]

Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream​

A man who retired as a major lectures hundreds of generals about the need to meet his standards.
By Eliot A. Cohen

—> Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream

“… There is a certain kind of Army officer who, after the excitement of company command, finds his career stalled, and who perhaps leaves the service as a major in the National Guard filled with bitterness and resentment. He may then dream of one day being in a position to make all the superior officers who failed to appreciate his leadership qualities, his insight, his sheer fitness stand to attention and hear him lay down the law about what it is to be an officer, and threaten to fire those who do not meet his standards.

In this respect, and this respect only, on that stage Pete Hegseth was living the dream.

In all other respects, however, he was ridiculous. While much of what he said was unobjectionable (working out and getting haircuts are good things, after all), it was the kind of thing that a battalion commander might say to some scruffy lieutenants and sergeants. Indeed, Hegseth could not help himself, using we when he mentioned those in the service. The whole point of having a secretary of defense is that he or she is a civilian, first and foremost, and not a soldier.

Hegseth’s examples, moreover, were drawn primarily from the only military things he knows firsthand—that is, the kind of tactics, training, and maintenance that a captain in charge of 150 soldiers has to worry about.

His dream world is the world of Ranger school (from which he never graduated), not the actual world of complex military operations involving land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace. One could not help but suspect that his time as a company-grade officer was the high point of the career of someone whose family life was ridden with multiple failures, whose attempts to run nonprofit organizations ran aground, and whose fame and wealth came from journalism, a profession he sincerely despises. He stuck with what he knows and genuinely reveres. Unfortunately for the country, he seems unable to transcend it.…”

“… by a rough estimate, there were more than 25,000 years of accumulated military experience in that room. To be lectured on the basics of military leadership and qualifications by a secretary of defense with eight months’ experience under his belt, and a few years of active soldiering beyond that, had to have been galling. To be summoned from the four corners of the globe, at considerable expense in money and effort and time, was a waste. They knew that too.

What Hegseth apparently never learned in his previous life was that hectoring is not inspiration, that respect for one’s subordinates’ time (which he abused by bringing them together in this way) should go hand in hand with respect for their accomplishments (which he also abused by refusing to tell them why they were being called together).

He may have thought he was showing steely leadership by denouncing three distinguished retired four-star generals—Peter Chiarelli, Frank MacKenzie, and Mark Milley—by name. In fact, there were undoubtedly those present who had served under those men and valued them, and in any case, it was a loutish thing to do. But then again, there was plenty of the lout in Hegseth’s speech—in, for example, the vulgarities. (Would George C. Marshall, whom he praised, have used those words in a speech to generals? Highly unlikely.)…”