Pete Hegseth pulled no punches when he addressed hundreds of U.S. military leaders in an in-person gathering at Quantico Virginia. Hegseth declared an end to the political correctness in the armed forces.
"Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading, and we lost our way. We became the Woke Department. But not anymore. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.
“No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction or gender delusions."
Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness. She says his speech was right on the mark.
"If you put your head outside opened up the door and listened, you could hear men and women in the military and all the installations and training bases and all the ships at sea cheering because I think they know, as he said, you are liberated from the ties of these restrictions and mandates that made the job more difficult and more dangerous."
During his nearly hour-long speech, Hegseth said the U.S. military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said he was ordering a 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 called for “changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”
Donnelly says Hegseth pointed out there are different standards for those involved in direct ground combat.
“I know exactly what he means, but a lot of media missed this. They think that the X-ray technician of the military hospital, she should have the same standard as the infantryman about to take on the threat of the day. No, there's a big difference. And Pete Hegseth obviously understands that difference, and he reiterated it in the presence of the American people and the media, and I hope they understand and go on from there."
