He announced 10 new directives, including that the "highest male standard" will be in place for all of those in the Armed Forces.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to military leaders at Quantico on Tuesday morning, letting them know just what the change from Department of Defense to Department of War really means. The new mission of the War Department, he said, is "preparing for war."
"Fighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit, not because we want war—no one here wants war—but it's because we love peace," Hegseth said. This mission is alongside his intense effort to eliminate "wokeness" from the military, which is an element in the Armed Forces that the administration believes puts service men and women at risk.
He announced 10 new directives, including that the "highest male standard" will be in place for all of those in the Armed Forces. A combat field test will also come into place, "that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment."
Everyone to be held to highest male standards
"Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS, for every designated Combat Arms position, returns to the highest male standard only because this job is life or death. Standards must be met, and not just met. At every level we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do and should be in our DNA."
Fitness tests
"We are also adding a combat field test for combat arms units that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment."
"I'm also directing that war fighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at a gender neutral age norm, male standard, scored above 70%. It all starts with physical fitness and appearance." Hegseth later said, "So whether you're an Airborne Ranger or a chairborne Ranger, a brand new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test."
Physical fitness and grooming
"At my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service. Also today at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense.
"Most units do that already, but we're codified, and we're not talking like hot yoga and stretching real hard. PT, others, either as a unit or as an individual, at every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private leaders, set the standard, and so many of you this do this already. Active, Guard, and Reserve.
"This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression. We're going to cut our hair, shave up, shave our beards, and adhere to standards."
No more woke language
"We're undertaking a full 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. Of course, we can't do like, nasty bullying and hazing.
"We're talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They've been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs. No more. Setting achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do, and if that makes me toxic, then so be it."
Return to standards
"We're ensuring that every service, every unit, every schoolhouse and every form of professional military education conduct an immediate review of their standards. Now we've done this in many places already, but today it goes across the entire Department of War.
"Any place where tried and true physical standards were altered, especially since 2015 when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify, must be returned to their original standard.
"Other standards have been manipulated to hit racial quotas as well, which is just as unacceptable. This too must end. Merit only. The President talks about it all the time. Merit-based."
He spoke to the gender divide inherent in these standards, saying, "I want to be very clear about this, this is not about preventing women from serving. We very much value the impact of female troops.
"Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world, but when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it."
Hegseth further said that "weak men won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death."
No more walking on eggshells
"We are attacking and ending the walking on eggshells and 'zero defect' command culture. A risk-averse culture means officers execute not to lose instead of to win. A risk-averse culture means NCOs are not empowered to enforce standards, commanders and NCOs don't take necessary risks or make tough adjustments for fear of rocking the boat or making mistakes. A blemish-free record is what peacetime leaders covet the most, which is the worst of all incentives.
"You, we, as senior leaders, need to end the poisonous culture of risk aversion and empower our NCOs at all levels to enforce standards. Truth be told, for the most part, we don't need new standards. We just need to re-establish a culture where enforcing standards is possible. And that's why today, at my direction, I'm issuing new policies that will overhaul the IG, EO, and MEO processes. I call it the no more walking on eggshells policy. We are liberating commanders and NCOs.
"We are liberating you. We are overhauling an Inspector General process, the IG, that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver's seat. We're doing the same with the Equal Opportunity and Military Equal Opportunity policies, the EO and MEO at our department. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complainants, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo. No more side tracking careers, no more walking on eggshells."
Promotions based on merit, not quotas
"We're making 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. People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career. Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes, and that's not the business we're in. We need risk takers and aggressive leaders and a culture that supports you.
"Fourth, at the War Department, promotions across the joint force will be based on one thing, merit. Colorblind, gender neutral, merit-based. The entire promotion process, including evaluations of war-fighting capabilities, is being thoroughly re-examined. We've already done a lot in this area, but more changes are coming soon.
"We'll promote top-performing officers and NCOs faster and get rid of poor performers more quickly. Evaluations, education, and field exercises will become real evaluations, not box checks for every one of us at every level."
End to useless mandatory training
"We are drastically reducing the ridiculous amount of mandatory training that individuals and units must execute. We've already ended the most egregious, now we're giving you back real time, less PowerPoint briefings and fewer online courses, more time in the motor pool, and more time on the range.
"Our job is to make sure you have the money, equipment, weapons, and parts to train and maintain, and then you take it from there.
"You all know this because it's common sense, the tougher and the higher the standards in our units, the higher the retention rates in those units. Warriors want to be challenged. Troops want to be tested.
"When you don't train and you don't maintain, you to moralize, and that's when our best people decide to take their talents to the civilian world. The leaders who created the woke department have already driven out too many hard chargers. We reverse that trend right now."
Basic Training
"Basic training is being restored to what it should be, scary, tough, and disciplined. We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits, ensuring that future war fighters are forged."
Winning
"The United States has not won a major theater war since the name was changed to the Department of Defense in 1947," Hegseth said, other than the Gulf War, and delved into why.
"The men who led this department during the Gulf War were mostly combat veterans of the Vietnam War," he said, noting President Reagan's military buildup as well. Those men, he said, were not on board with nation-building and mission creep.
He called today "the liberation of America's warriors. In name, in deed, and in authority, you kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don't necessarily belong always in polite society.
"We are not an army of one. We are a joint force of millions of selfless Americans.
"We are warriors. We are purpose-built, not for fair weather, blue skies or calm seas. We were built to load up in the back of helicopters, five times for zodiacs in the dead of night, in fair weather or foul, to go to dangerous places to find those who would do our nation harm and deliver justice on behalf of the American people in close and brutal combat, if necessary. You are different.
"We fight not because we hate what's in front of us. We fight because we love what's behind us."
"Fighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit, not because we want war—no one here wants war—but it's because we love peace," Hegseth said. This mission is alongside his intense effort to eliminate "wokeness" from the military, which is an element in the Armed Forces that the administration believes puts service men and women at risk.
He announced 10 new directives, including that the "highest male standard" will be in place for all of those in the Armed Forces. A combat field test will also come into place, "that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment."
Everyone to be held to highest male standards
"Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS, for every designated Combat Arms position, returns to the highest male standard only because this job is life or death. Standards must be met, and not just met. At every level we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do and should be in our DNA."
Fitness tests
"We are also adding a combat field test for combat arms units that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment."
"I'm also directing that war fighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at a gender neutral age norm, male standard, scored above 70%. It all starts with physical fitness and appearance." Hegseth later said, "So whether you're an Airborne Ranger or a chairborne Ranger, a brand new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test."
Physical fitness and grooming
"At my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service. Also today at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense.
"Most units do that already, but we're codified, and we're not talking like hot yoga and stretching real hard. PT, others, either as a unit or as an individual, at every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private leaders, set the standard, and so many of you this do this already. Active, Guard, and Reserve.
"This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression. We're going to cut our hair, shave up, shave our beards, and adhere to standards."
No more woke language
"We're undertaking a full 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. Of course, we can't do like, nasty bullying and hazing.
"We're talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They've been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs. No more. Setting achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do, and if that makes me toxic, then so be it."
Return to standards
"We're ensuring that every service, every unit, every schoolhouse and every form of professional military education conduct an immediate review of their standards. Now we've done this in many places already, but today it goes across the entire Department of War.
"Any place where tried and true physical standards were altered, especially since 2015 when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify, must be returned to their original standard.
"Other standards have been manipulated to hit racial quotas as well, which is just as unacceptable. This too must end. Merit only. The President talks about it all the time. Merit-based."
He spoke to the gender divide inherent in these standards, saying, "I want to be very clear about this, this is not about preventing women from serving. We very much value the impact of female troops.
"Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world, but when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it."
Hegseth further said that "weak men won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death."
No more walking on eggshells
"We are attacking and ending the walking on eggshells and 'zero defect' command culture. A risk-averse culture means officers execute not to lose instead of to win. A risk-averse culture means NCOs are not empowered to enforce standards, commanders and NCOs don't take necessary risks or make tough adjustments for fear of rocking the boat or making mistakes. A blemish-free record is what peacetime leaders covet the most, which is the worst of all incentives.
"You, we, as senior leaders, need to end the poisonous culture of risk aversion and empower our NCOs at all levels to enforce standards. Truth be told, for the most part, we don't need new standards. We just need to re-establish a culture where enforcing standards is possible. And that's why today, at my direction, I'm issuing new policies that will overhaul the IG, EO, and MEO processes. I call it the no more walking on eggshells policy. We are liberating commanders and NCOs.
"We are liberating you. We are overhauling an Inspector General process, the IG, that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver's seat. We're doing the same with the Equal Opportunity and Military Equal Opportunity policies, the EO and MEO at our department. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complainants, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo. No more side tracking careers, no more walking on eggshells."
Promotions based on merit, not quotas
"We're making 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. People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career. Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes, and that's not the business we're in. We need risk takers and aggressive leaders and a culture that supports you.
"Fourth, at the War Department, promotions across the joint force will be based on one thing, merit. Colorblind, gender neutral, merit-based. The entire promotion process, including evaluations of war-fighting capabilities, is being thoroughly re-examined. We've already done a lot in this area, but more changes are coming soon.
"We'll promote top-performing officers and NCOs faster and get rid of poor performers more quickly. Evaluations, education, and field exercises will become real evaluations, not box checks for every one of us at every level."
End to useless mandatory training
"We are drastically reducing the ridiculous amount of mandatory training that individuals and units must execute. We've already ended the most egregious, now we're giving you back real time, less PowerPoint briefings and fewer online courses, more time in the motor pool, and more time on the range.
"Our job is to make sure you have the money, equipment, weapons, and parts to train and maintain, and then you take it from there.
"You all know this because it's common sense, the tougher and the higher the standards in our units, the higher the retention rates in those units. Warriors want to be challenged. Troops want to be tested.
"When you don't train and you don't maintain, you to moralize, and that's when our best people decide to take their talents to the civilian world. The leaders who created the woke department have already driven out too many hard chargers. We reverse that trend right now."
Basic Training
"Basic training is being restored to what it should be, scary, tough, and disciplined. We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits, ensuring that future war fighters are forged."
Winning
"The United States has not won a major theater war since the name was changed to the Department of Defense in 1947," Hegseth said, other than the Gulf War, and delved into why.
"The men who led this department during the Gulf War were mostly combat veterans of the Vietnam War," he said, noting President Reagan's military buildup as well. Those men, he said, were not on board with nation-building and mission creep.
He called today "the liberation of America's warriors. In name, in deed, and in authority, you kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don't necessarily belong always in polite society.
"We are not an army of one. We are a joint force of millions of selfless Americans.
"We are warriors. We are purpose-built, not for fair weather, blue skies or calm seas. We were built to load up in the back of helicopters, five times for zodiacs in the dead of night, in fair weather or foul, to go to dangerous places to find those who would do our nation harm and deliver justice on behalf of the American people in close and brutal combat, if necessary. You are different.
"We fight not because we hate what's in front of us. We fight because we love what's behind us."
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