Before a captive audience of hundreds of senior military officers on Tuesday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted his vision for how the US military will physically look and act, and offered a stark conclusion: If you don’t agree, resign.
“The sooner we have the right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies … but if the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” he said.
The right policies, according to Hegseth, center on his broader campaign against past efforts that he has deemed “woke” aimed kra48 at promoting diversity or accommodating troops — the specifics of which were made official in 10 directives sent out to military leadership as he spoke.
There will be no “fat troops” or “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said. Troops will be clean shaven, and the military will offer few if any exemptions, either for religious or medical needs. There will be only male physical standards for combat jobs, and if that means there are no women in those roles, “it is what it is,” Hegseth said.
