Secretary Hegseth Delivers a Speech That Could Have Been Given by General Patton

I am sure that many will ask me about my reaction to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s speech today to the collected generals and admirals of all the military services. A lack of sufficient time, combined with other must-do commitments today prevent me from attempting any detailed analysis. But my general reaction is one of great relief because it clearly presages a refocusing of the military on the core purpose for its existence. That is, as General MacArthur instructed the West Point Corps of Cadets in 1963, “to win our wars.”

Flag officers assembled at Quantico. Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Hegseth’s Key Points

Secretary of War Hegseth made a series of principal points, which I summarize as follows (with assistance from Perplexity):

• Rebranding the Department of Defense as the Department of War, ending the “era of defense” in favor of a more aggressive, warfighting stance.

• Physical fitness and appearance — Toughening grooming standards, including strict and uniform enforcement of rules regarding hair, beards, and general appearance, and instituting “male-level” or gender-neutral physical fitness standards for everyone in uniform, with no exceptions. He did not spare the “fat generals” in the pentagon. “Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession.”

• An end to “woke culture,” including eliminating racial quotas and diversity initiatives in promotions, reinstating a purely merit-based system.

• Removing overly restrictive limitations on how the treatment of new recruits, such as not allowing drill instructors to even touch a recruit, giving commanders more discretion over training practices.

• Modifying limitations on rules of engagement, enabling leaders to act more decisively in combat situations.

• Overhauling the Inspector General’s office to curb what Hegseth called a “culture of walking on eggshells.” “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now.” Limiting some IG investigations that have “been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat.”

• Focusing military priorities on warfighting and battlefield victory, asserting an end to “division, distraction, or gender delusions”. Eliminating gender delusions, of course, will not be welcomed by people such as this:

  

• Calling for any officers unwilling to support the new agenda to “resign or find a new profession”.

Welcome and much needed changes

These orders represent a sharp pivot away from prior administrations’ emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and risk avoidance. They emphasize the need to be ready to deter war, and failing that, “to win our wars” above all else.

I have no doubt that the announcement of these policies will reignite the unhinged opposition by many politicians and the usual TV talking heads to anything remotely associated with President Donald J. Trump. As I said to my wife when Secretary Hegseth announced that there will be one physical standard for everyone, “Leftist heads will be exploding about now.”

I am equally confident that the professional war fighters at all levels in our military will say, “It’s about time” and will then enthusiastically drive on to accomplish the mission that they have just been given by the Secretary.

So, when you see or hear the usual leftist politicians, television readers, or any of the other self-promoting “experts” on social media ramping up their attacks on Secretary, Hegseth, President Trump, or others because of these policies, your first question should be, “How much war fighting experience do they have?” The opinions of Jenn Psaki, the females on the View, or Adam Schiff on the wisdom of these mandated changes for the military are about as credible and useful as their opinions on Quantum Field Theory.

And if you hear, similar attacks from any of our retired generals, know that they are just engaged in a demonstrating their unsuitability for combat command.

And a final note about the President’s follow-on

I will add one final note with great reluctance. President Trump followed Secretary Hegseth and gave a lengthy, unfocused, and rambling talk to the assembled generals and admirals. It sounded more like one of his customary stump speeches. He bashed former Presidents Biden and Obama by name in a way that was simply inappropriate, especially when Secretary Hegseth had just given a speech aimed at the depoliticizing the military. Among other things, Trump could not resist speaking of the “stolen election,” lauding his own tariff policy, Biden’s use of the autopen, how he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize, and the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Even if you believe that the 2020 election was stolen and support all these points 100%, these were not suitable topics for this audience. And I am confident that many (most? all?) of the flag officers present were not impressed by his undisciplined remarks.

Trump’s undisciplined and inappropriate comments, unfortunately detract from the power of Hegseth’s presentation. And it was the wrong message for the wrong audience. Trump would have been better served had he heeded the message that General MacArthur delivered in his famous farewell address to the West Point Corps of Cadets. After laying out some of the many changes that were afoot in 1963, which would “make life the most exciting of all time,” MacArthur delivered his charge:

And through all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable — it is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but a corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment; but you are the ones who are trained to fight.

Yours is the profession of arms — the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war, there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be kept Duty, Honor, Country.

Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men’s minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation’s war guardians, as its lifeguards from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiators in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government. Whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.

These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.

Those are timeless truths. Hegseth’s purpose is to reinvigorate the military’s focus on that mission. We must pray he succeeds.