Hegseth rails against the “fat” to military leaders, makes no mention of the stupid

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a rare, closed-door gathering of flag officers to press a throwback agenda heavy on grooming and fitness mandates and light on the complex realities of modern war, reports the New York Times. The message to 800 admirals and generals: lose the weight and shave the beards to restore “standards” eroded by “woke” policies.

Hegseth, whose worldview is rooted in a twelve‑month Iraq tour and National Guard service, equated stricter appearance and physical training rules with winning wars. Critics—many with multiple combat deployments—called the lecture an insult, arguing tactical discipline does not substitute for strategy, resourcing, or interagency and coalition coherence. The secretary’s emphasis mirrored his public persona of pre‑dawn PT sessions and social‑media-ready toughness, even as DOD juggles contested logistics, industrial base constraints, and gray‑zone coercion.

The speech peacocked World War II nostalgia and Patton‑style stagecraft, while being ignorant to the delta: total war marked by national mobilization then versus an all‑volunteer force now, clear theaters then versus a multidomain, below‑threshold competition today. Regardless, Hegseth seeks only the “highest male standard” for women, so long as they are not trans.

Here's a summation from the Atlantic:

There is a certain kind of Army officer who, after the excitement of company command, finds his career stalled, and who perhaps leaves the service as a major in the National Guard filled with bitterness and resentment. He may then dream of one day being in a position to make all the superior officers who failed to appreciate his leadership qualities, his insight, his sheer fitness, stand to attention and hear him lay down the law about what it is to be an officer, and threaten to fire those who do not meet his standards. In this respect, and this respect only, on that stage Pete Hegseth was living the dream. In all other respects, however, he was ridiculous.

More critically, "Hegseth could not help himself, using 'we' when he mentioned those in the service. The whole point of having a secretary of defense is that he or she is a civilian, first and foremost, and not a soldier." And yet, "Hegseth’s examples ... were drawn primarily from the only military things he knows firsthand, that is, the kind of tactics, training, and maintenance that a captain in charge of 150 soldiers has to worry about."