President Donald Trump revealed plans to use American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and declared an end to woke culture alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday. The announcement came during an unusual gathering of hundreds of top U.S. military officials who were abruptly summoned to Virginia from around the world.
Mr. Hegseth introduced new directives for troops, including the implementation of gender-neutral or male-level standards for physical fitness. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump highlighted the strength of U.S. nuclear capabilities and warned that America is under invasion from within.
“After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help, we’re defending the borders of our country,” Mr. Trump said.
The military summit took place at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, near Washington. Mr. Hegseth had called military leaders without publicly revealing the reason until the morning of the event. His address focused heavily on his well-known talking points, painting a picture of a military hampered by woke policies. He further urged military leaders who opposed his new approach to resign, calling it the honorable course of action.
While meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are common, the suddenness and secrecy surrounding this summit fueled speculation about its purpose. Admirals and generals deployed in conflict zones across the Middle East and elsewhere were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military. This underscored how the country’s culture wars have become a central agenda item for Mr. Hegseth’s Pentagon, even amid significant global security concerns.
Mr. Trump, accustomed to boisterous crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and applaud his boasts, did not receive the same reaction from the assembled generals and admirals. In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, military leaders remained mostly stone-faced during Mr. Trump’s politicized remarks, a stark contrast to the enthusiastic rank-and-file soldiers who cheered during his summer speech at Fort Bragg.
During his nearly hour-long speech, Mr. Hegseth criticized the military for promoting too many leaders based on race, gender quotas, and historic firsts rather than merit. “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” he declared.
Echoing this sentiment, Mr. Trump stated, “The purpose of America’s military is not to protect anyone’s feelings. It’s to protect our republic. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom. And we will be a fighting and winning machine.”
Mr. Hegseth also announced a loosening of disciplinary rules and a reduction in hazing protections, emphasizing the removal of many guardrails put in place after numerous military scandals and investigations. He ordered a review of the Department of Defense’s definitions of toxic leadership, bullying, and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing.
Additionally, the defense secretary called for changes regarding the retention of adverse information in personnel records. His goal is to allow leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions to avoid being burdened by those mistakes indefinitely.
“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes.”
This policy shift comes amid ongoing concerns over bullying and toxic leadership, which have been linked to numerous military suicides in recent years. Notably, the suicide of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who took his life in 2018, was tied to belligerence and brash leadership from his supervisors, according to a Navy investigation.
Throughout the address, Mr. Hegseth criticized environmental policies and transgender troops, emphasizing the military’s renewed focus on the warrior ethos and peace through strength. He dismissed previous administrations’ emphasis on diversity as an “insane fallacy,” referencing dizzying diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and LGBTQE+ statements.
“They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal,” he said, also calling out policies such as electric tanks and COVID vaccine mandates as mistakes.
Regarding physical standards, Mr. Hegseth stressed that jobs requiring physical power in combat must maintain high and gender-neutral standards. “If women can make it, excellent,” he said. “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.”
Mr. Hegseth’s remarks come at a critical time as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week. Having emphasized a focus on lethality, he has made several unusual and unexplained decisions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and the firing of other top military leaders.
Under the Trump-Hegseth administration, the military has also played an active role in domestic security efforts, including securing the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying to American cities as part of law enforcement surges, and conducting strikes on boats in the Caribbean targeting drug traffickers.
As the Pentagon shifts its agenda towards traditional military priorities and away from social policies, the recent summit at Quantico highlights the ongoing tensions between cultural issues and national security within the U.S. armed forces.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/trump-reveals-plan-to-use-us-cities-to-train-military-and-end-woke-culture-1813111.html