‘It’s a bad look’: Hegseth shames ‘fat generals’, vows to end racial, gender diversity in US military

United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday (Sep 30) slammed “fat generals and admirals” and criticised diversity initiatives in the military that led to decades of decay in his address at a rare gathering of army leaders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Northern Virginia. He added that those who do not support his agenda should resign.

In his address, Hegseth announced a set of directives aimed at overhauling organisational culture related to fitness, race, and gender, describing the earlier state of military standards as “woke”.

“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department,’” he said. “But not anymore.”

Hegseth further said that he decided to fire the previous generals because they were invested in progressive ideas about diversity in the military.

“It’s nearly impossible to change a culture with the same people helped create or even benefited from that culture,” he said. “If the words that you hear today make your heart sink, then you should do the honourable thing and resign.”

Speaking about the reforms in the military, Hegseth said, “Colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based; the entire promotion process, including evaluations of warfighting capabilities, is being thoroughly re-examined.”

The defence secretary also said that women in combat roles will be expected to meet the same physical standards as men.

“War does not care if you are a man or a woman,” Hegseth said, adding that “standards must be uniform, gender neutral, and high”, and if that meant some women didn’t qualify, “it is what it is.”

“We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralise, 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 war fighters,” he stated.