Howdy,
I had a great weekend. I moved into my new apartment and got to hang out with some friends. I haven’t been following the news, so I’m not up-to-date on all the latest and greatest. Nevertheless, I saw that Pete Hegseth got confirmed.
I never served with Secretary of Defense Hegseth, but his brother was our podcast editor for a few months last year. Nevertheless, I’m not beholden to bite my tongue anymore. So . . .
I’m vaguely aware of all the bad press on him. He’s had a drinking problem. He’s also been unfaithful, fathering multiple children. There are reports of abuse, both verbally and physically. And he’s also an Iraq and Afghan combat veteran. But if you think he’s the only Iraq & Afghan combat veteran with a checkered past, then I don’t know what to tell you anymore.
Over the past twenty years, men and women like Pete have repeatedly been thrust into no-win situations. Then, many of them, like myself, come home to a world completely changed. The American I grew up with is gone. It’s been replaced by a super-connected virtual reality matrix devoid of context and human touch. Every day chores, like dealing with banks, is extraordinarily difficult. In short, for many GWOT veterans, America is a modern day battlefield.
Thus, for many GWOT veterans, seeing combat vets at SecDef, National Security Advisor, and Vice President is reassuring. For nearly twenty years we’ve fought our nation’s wars, and for many of us, myself very much included, we feel like we’ve been betrayed by the elites, on both sides of the aisle, who championed numerous causes only to betray allies and military families.
Pete would not have been my first pick. Hell, he wouldn’t have made my top 10. But Trump won the election fair and square. He may not have a mandate, but he definitely has the wind in his back. Thus, he decided for a drastic change from the status quo/establishment.
However, “the establishment” doesn’t exactly have a great track record. It got us President Biden’s imbecilic decision to shake hands with Sirajuddin Haqqani. It got us Secretary of Defense Austin’s disgraceful decision to abandon our Afghan allies. It got us Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s disastrous Iraq invasion. It got us Obama’s retreat from Iraq, only for American troops to be called back to retake Iraq.
After two lost wars, bringing in a radical change agent might work. However, Secretary Hegseth is about to face the biggest bureaucracy in the world: the Department of Defense. He will face roadblock after roadblock. Many of his initiatives will be thrown asunder at the first sign of political danger.
At the end of the day, Pete Hegseth is the perfect embodiment of what Trump represents: a radical change in path. Hopefully, he will be a marked improvement over the last four years. Admittedly, that’s a low bar but all I can do is pray for him and his family because the weight of the world is on his shoulders now.
Until Next Time
This article leaves me completely gobsmacked. You recently published / promoted excellent pieces on the expertise and discipline required to lead soldiers in a complex military. "A Letter From an Air Force SNCO" had me reaching for my notebook to write down excerpts that illuminated integrity, ingenuity, guts and loyalty. Your depictions of your incredibly brave and dedicated Afghan partners left an indelible mark.
But Hesgeth? He's a punk. He's not some hard-knock youngster who can be forgiven youthful indiscretions. He's a misongynistic, frat boy, wanna-be who is telling people like Whitney Burton that she doesn't belong in military leadership. He assaulted a woman for God's sake - and then paid her off. But then again, so did Trump so apparently a plurality of voters think rape is not disqualifying for leadership. What does that say about us as a people?
One of Hesgeth's first actions was to have the Army remove its sexual harassment and assault prevention policy from the website that houses service rules. Are you going to be reaching out to the women who are subsequently raped/assaulted/harassed and explain to them why there is no longer a published prevention policy?
Furthermore, Hesgeth is a White Christian Nationalist who has advocated purging the very Muslim population you served and the brethren you fight so hard to save.
Do you really think that Trump will blow everything up to make life better for the soldiers he called "suckers" and "losers"? When Trump offered to bring the Taliban to Camp David right before 9/11 did it signal respect for American Sacrifice? When Trump freed 5000 Taliban fighters, allowing them to return to the battlefield and set the stage for the disastrous Afghan withdrawal did he care about U.S. service members and our Afghan allies? He has been held accountable for nothing, and Hesgeth is cut from the same cloth.
When it comes, I'm hoping the "elite" members of the military are brave enough to defy the illegal order to fire on American citizens for protesting. (I'm old enough to remember Kent State) Because Hesgeth sure as hell will betray the constitution, his fellow citizens and democracy itself to wreak vengeance in pursuit of his patriarchal, autocratic, racist fantasies.
This is the first time that I really just flat out disagreed with some of your post. I'm a 30 year retiree, but was Navy so never in combat but have experienced mortaritaville on Balad a few times. I think what is not helping me here is my argument with my MAGA "friends" (it seems like every time we talk...the friends part takes more of a hit) where they say the military is completely downtrodden today because of DEI. So...my response back to them is that isn't Hegseth essentially a DEI hire, but the criteria isn't skin color it's their loyalty to Trump? Worse yet..when you are talking about quotas in the military...you are NEVER talking about putting someone in a job that is completely unqualified. Hegseth is completely unqualified! What gets me is that my friends are professionals who have all been managers hiring people and they would NEVER contemplate hiring someone who didn't have the relevant experience to be successful much less if they knew that there were potential personal problems AND his 2 leadership ventures outside the military were complete and utter failures. OK...so let's be honest...he's not a little underqualified and a low risk...he's extremely underqualified and a HIGH risk. I wouldn't do that sort of hiring in my field of business....why the heck would we consider rolling the dice with our military at the highest levels???
The other comment that I bristled with is blaming Austin for getting us out of Afghanistan. You do realize that Trump started the process to get us out, right? Do you think Hegseth, being so beholden to Trump, would have pushed back on Trump? My point being is that you are heaping blame on a SecDef who reports to the POTUS. Wait...wasn't it you who pointed out that a President who won an election should get a lot deference on their decisions and choices?
Part of that particular point about pulling out of Afghanistan that bothers me is how much blame Biden got even though Trump started the process and placed Biden in a pretty poor position. You do realize that the suicide bomber was a guy who was released due to terrible negotiating by Trump where they released all the bad guys without involving the Afghan government. So...I didn't support the withdrawal period, but I really bristle that Trump never is held accountable for his actions that led to those 13 service members being killed. Now Trump goes around making it a political bludgeon acting like wasn't planning to do the exact same thing.
I do think we should not have abandoned our Afghan allies and I didn't support Biden on that but to somehow blame Austin and not think that Hegseth would have similarly caved is unrealistic thinking. It just seems like your conflating your points and then ending up with a little bit of the "what the hell...let's go for it" place which I think is extremely risky when we are talking about the SecDef position.