‘You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors,’ says Pete Hegseth in speech to military leaders
Hegseth is speaking now.
He says his speech is about “fixing decades of decay”.
“We’re clearing out the debris, removing distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders,” says Hegseth. “You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors.”
Key events
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Hegseth says that if new military standards prevent women from serving in combat, ‘it is what it is’
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Pentagon will review its definitions of ‘toxic leadership’, ‘bullying’ and ‘hazing’, says Hegseth
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‘No more beardos,’ Hegseth tells military leaders they must look professional
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‘Fat troops are tiring to look at’: Hegseth orders top officers to focus on fitness
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Combat troops will have to meet ‘highest male standard’, Hegseth says
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‘We are done with that shit’: Hegseth says military is done with diversity efforts in extraordinary speech to generals
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‘You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors,’ says Pete Hegseth in speech to military leaders
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Trump and Hegseth to address unprecedented gathering of military leaders
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Donald Trump to preside over gathering of US military’s top commanders in Quantico, Virginia
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Hegseth says that if new military standards prevent women from serving in combat, ‘it is what it is’
“This is not about preventing women from serving,” he says. “We very much value the impact of female troops. Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world. But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral.”
“If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result, so be it … It will also mean that we mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death,” he says.
Pentagon will review its definitions of ‘toxic leadership’, ‘bullying’ and ‘hazing’, says Hegseth
He says upholding and enforcing high standards is “not toxic”.
“Leading war fighters toward the goals of high, gender neutral and uncompromising standards in order to forge a cohesive, formidable and lethal Department of War is not toxic,” he says.
He says it would be “toxic leadership” to endanger “subordinates with low standards” or promote people on a non-merit basis.
“That’s why today at my direction, we’re undertaking a full review of the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing,” he announces.
He clarifies this does not mean “nasty bullying and hazing”.
Words like “bullying”, “hazing” and “toxic” have “been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs,” he says.
‘No more beardos,’ Hegseth tells military leaders they must look professional
He turns to “grooming standards”.
“No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” he vowed. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards and adhere to standards.”
If someone wants a beard, then “join special forces”, he says.
“We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans, but unfortunately, we have had leaders who either refuse to call BS and enforce standards or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards,” he says.
“The era of unprofessional appearance is over,” he declares: “No more beardos.”
If someone cannot meet male physical standards for combat, cannot pass a physical test or does not want to shave and look professional, “it’s time for a new position or a new profession”.
“We’re not talking hot yoga and stretching – real, hard PT,” he says.
Hegseth says troops will be required to hit height and weight requirements and take fitness tests twice a year.
Troops will be required to perform physical fitness activity every day on duty, he adds.
“Most units do that already, but we’re codifying,” he says.
‘Fat troops are tiring to look at’: Hegseth orders top officers to focus on fitness
It all starts with physical fitness and appearance, he says.
He then compares this to his “regular hard PT”.
He says “it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops”.
It’s also unacceptable seeing “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon, and leading commands around the country and the world”.
“It’s a bad look,” he says.
Combat troops will have to meet ‘highest male standard’, Hegseth says
He says he is also adding a “combat field test” for combat arms units.
He says he’s also directing that “war-fighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at a gender-neutral, age norm, male standard scored above 70%”.
“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out shape, or in a combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men, or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons, platform, or task, or under a leader who was the first but not the best. Standards must be uniform, gender neutral, and high,” Hegseth says.
He announces the first of ten war department directives.
He says “each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only”.
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don’t hurt anyone’s feelings leadership ends right now,” he says.
He says he wants “ruthless, dispassionate and common sense application of standards”.
He says the new war department “golden rule” is: “Do onto your unit as you would have done onto your own child’s unit.”
“Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or undertrained troops? Or alongside people who can’t make basic standards? Or in a unit where standards were lowered so certain types of troops could make it in? In a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance and war-fighting? The answer’s not just no, it’s hell no,” he says.
He says he’s made it his mission “to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less lethal”.
But there are deeper problems “beneath the woke garbage”, he adds.
‘We are done with that shit’: Hegseth says military is done with diversity efforts in extraordinary speech to generals
He says the administration has “done a great deal to remove the social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department”.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” he says. “No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions, no more debris.”
“We are done with that shit,” he adds.
“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass headed, and we lost our way,” he says. “We became ‘the woke department’.”
“Not any more,” he adds.
He says the department has spent too long promoting “risk averse go-along to get-along conformists”.
He claims that “for too long, we’ve promoted too many uniform leaders for the wrong reasons – based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” he says.
‘You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors,’ says Pete Hegseth in speech to military leaders
Hegseth is speaking now.
He says his speech is about “fixing decades of decay”.
“We’re clearing out the debris, removing distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders,” says Hegseth. “You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors.”
Trump and Hegseth to address unprecedented gathering of military leaders
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is due to address the country’s top military leaders in Quantico, Virginia quite soon (it was billed as 8.15am ET). Donald Trump will also be attending, and it was revealed last night that he’ll also be speaking at 9am ET.
Last week, hundreds of generals and admirals were summoned at short notice and without explanation from around the world for this unusual meeting with Hegseth at at the Marine Corps Museum. They were initially not told why they were summoned in this unprecedented way, but it’s being reported that Hegseth is expected to talk about “warrior ethos”.
In an interview with NBC News, Trump said it would be “really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things”.
“We have some great people coming in and it’s just an ‘esprit de corps,’” he said. “You know the expression ‘esprit de corps’? That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.”
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