Making America Fit to Fight

“The only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting, preparing for war, and preparing to win,” U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth told over 800 admirals and generals at an unprecedented in-person meeting in Virginia yesterday. He vowed to reverse decades of decline and invited anyone who doesn’t like it to leave.

• Many will no doubt accept the invitation, and many more will be pushed out for failing to meet the new standards—which are actually a return to older, sounder standards.
• The move is certain to rankle leaders who were promoted for pushing social-justice policies and to shock soldiers who enlisted after seeing recruiting ads featuring two mommies.

Hegseth announced 10 new directives, including physical fitness and appearance requirements:

• All troops must be held to sex-neutral physical standards. “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.”
• All personnel, flag officers included, must take biannual fitness tests. He called “fat generals and admirals” unacceptable.
• “No more identity months, dei offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions.”
• Definitions of hazing, bullying and harassment will be tightened so leaders can enforce discipline without being accused of “toxic leadership.”

To hear some retired military leaders and read mainstream news reports of yesterday’s meeting, you would think the demand that soldiers shave their beards is proof of America descending into totalitarianism. I’m more inclined to see the scale of shock as proof of how far America’s military had fallen. The people calling Hegseth an “embarrassment” to the military seemed just fine with a transgender naval secretary and generals wearing dog masks.

The fallout will be fascinating to watch. Since Trump took office in January, military recruiting has gone up, with all branches exceeding or meeting goals ahead of schedule. Trump and Hegseth are swiftly shifting the culture and restoring some pride in the power of America’s troops.

President Trump is working overtime to end global conflicts through diplomacy, some of it utopianist. But in many ways he is a hard-nosed realist, and his determination to confront evil is impressive. Building the military makes sense in the face of a world looking to dethrone this country.

However, to truly reverse the curses that have been plaguing it, the nation will have to confront its sins as well.