Hegseth instates ‘highest male standard only’ for combat, other changes, declaring Dept. of Defense ‘is over’

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that all combat personnel would be required to meet the highest male standard in order to maintain their positions. 

Hegseth said the department must “restore a ruthless, dispassionate and commonsense application of standards.”

“We’re training warriors, not defenders. We fight wars to win, not to defend. Defense is something you do all the time, it’s inherently reactionary and can lead to overuse, overreach, and mission creep. War is something you do sparingly, on our own terms and with clear aims,” Hegseth said as he spoke Tuesday morning at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

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“We fight to win. We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy,” he continued. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, 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 warfighters.”

The secretary said that now, “every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service.” Additionally, members of the joint force will be required to do PT [physical training] every duty day, something Hegseth said is standard in many units but would be officially codified.

“If the Secretary of War can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force,” he said.

Hegseth railed against “fat troops” and “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” arguing that physical standards for American service members had eroded, and it was time to raise the bar. 

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Hegseth noted that any altered physical standards — including those changed in 2015 “when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify” — had to be returned to their original form. He said this also included standards he claimed were “manipulated to hit racial quotas,” calling them “just as unacceptable.”

While he said that the new requirement is for troops to meet the highest male standard, Hegseth insisted that the move was not meant to prevent women from serving their country.

“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,” Hegseth said. “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result, so be it. It will also mean that we mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”

Hegseth also announced new grooming standards. Troops are now expected to be clean-shaven and have a uniform haircut. Soldiers are able to get temporary medical exemptions or permanent religious exemptions for the shaving rules.

“We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards and adhere to standards. Because it’s like the broken windows theory of policing, it’s like when you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes,” Hegseth said. “If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave.”

Special Forces operators’ beard exemptions are meant to help them better blend in with certain communities and civilians, according to the nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project.

The Army announced in July that “the new policy requires exemptions for non-religious reasons to be supported by a temporary medical profile (DA Form 3349-SG) and an exception-to-policy (ETP) memo granted by an O-5 officer in the chain of command.”

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The other part of the shift that Hegseth announced included further steps to root out “toxic ideological garbage” from the department. 

“No more identity months, DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction or gender delusions,” he said. “As I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, we are done with that s—.”

Further denouncing of wokeness in the military, Hegseth announced major changes aimed at offering leaders second chances. He said that the Department of War was well-aware that mistakes would be made with the new directives, and, as such, he also would be implementing changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records. This means that leaders with “forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions” on their records will not spend the rest of their careers paying for those mistakes, allowing them to take control without fear.

Throughout his address to military leadership, Hegseth made it clear that the reestablishment of the Department of War was more than a name change; it was also a major shift in policy. 

“The era of the Department of Defense is over,” he declared. “From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: War fighting. Preparing for war and preparing to win.”