Pete Hegseth announces major military changes and ends DEI programs

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that all combat personnel would be required to meet the highest male standard in order to maintain their positions. 

Hegseth said the department must “restore a ruthless, dispassionate and commonsense application of standards.”

“We’re training warriors, not defenders. We fight wars to win, not to defend. Defense is something you do all the time, it’s inherently reactionary and can lead to overuse, overreach, and mission creep. War is something you do sparingly, on our own terms and with clear aims,” Hegseth said as he spoke Tuesday morning at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

HEGSETH ORDERS ABOUT FACE ON PENTAGON’S SLIPPING GROOMING STANDARDS

“We fight to win. We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy,” he continued. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.”

The secretary said that now, “every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service.” Additionally, members of the joint force will be required to do PT [physical training] every duty day, something Hegseth said is standard in many units but would be officially codified.

“If the Secretary of War can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force,” he said.

Hegseth railed against “fat troops” and “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” arguing that physical standards for American service members had eroded, and it was time to raise the bar. 

HEGSETH VOWS TO REBUILD MILITARY DETERRENCE SO ENEMIES ‘DON’T WANT TO F— WITH US’

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth participates in PT with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), a US Army Special Forces battalion based in Stuttgart, Germany.  (DefSec Hegseth on X)

Hegseth noted that any altered physical standards — including those changed in 2015 “when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify” — had to be returned to their original form. He said this also included…