President Donald Trump revealed that he wants to use American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and joined Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday in declaring an end to woke culture. This announcement was made before an unusual gathering of hundreds of top US military officials who were abruptly summoned to Virginia from around the world.

Mr. Hegseth announced new directives for troops that include gender-neutral or male-level standards for physical fitness. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump boasted about US nuclear capabilities and warned that America is under invasion from within.

“After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help we’re defending the borders of our country,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Hegseth had called military leaders to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, near Washington, without publicly revealing the reason until the morning of the event. His address largely focused on his long-used talking points, painting a picture of a military hampered by woke policies. He stated that military leaders should do the honorable thing and resign if they do not agree with his new approach.

Meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, but this gathering fueled speculation due to the haste of its call and the mystery surrounding its purpose. Admirals and generals from conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military. This highlighted the extent to which the country’s culture wars have become a front-and-center agenda item for Mr. Hegseth’s Pentagon, even amid broad national security concerns worldwide.

Mr. Trump is accustomed to boisterous crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and applaud his boasts during speeches. However, he did not receive that kind of feedback from the generals and admirals in attendance. In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, the military leaders sat mostly stone-faced throughout Mr. Trump’s politicized remarks. This contrasted with the cheering rank-and-file soldiers during Mr. Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg earlier this summer.

During his nearly hour-long speech, Mr. Hegseth criticized the US military for promoting too many leaders for the wrong reasons, such as race, gender quotas, and historic firsts. “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive ‘don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings’ leadership ends right now at every level,” he declared.

Mr. Trump echoed this sentiment, stating, “The purpose of America’s military is not to protect anyone’s feelings. It’s to protect our republic. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom.” He added, “And we will be a fighting and winning machine.”

Mr. Hegseth also announced that he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections. He emphasized removing many of the guardrails the military put in place after numerous scandals and investigations. He said he was ordering a 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.

The Defense Secretary called for changes to how adverse information is retained in personnel records, allowing leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions not to be burdened by those records forever. “People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes.”

This approach comes despite evidence that bullying and toxic leadership have been suspected and confirmed causes behind numerous military suicides in recent years, including the 2018 suicide of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor bullied into taking his own life. A Navy investigation found that Mr. Caserta’s supervisors’ belligerent, vulgar, and brash leadership likely contributed significantly to his decision.

Mr. Hegseth used the platform to criticize environmental policies and transgender troops while highlighting his and Mr. Trump’s focus on the warrior ethos and “peace through strength.” He stated that previous administrations told the military “our diversity is our strength,” which he called an “insane fallacy.”

“They had to put out dizzying DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and LGBTQE+ statements,” he said. “They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal.”

He also mentioned the use of electric tanks and COVID vaccine requirements as examples of mistaken policies. However, when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, “those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he asserted. “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. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”

Mr. Hegseth’s speech came at a time when the country faces a potential government shutdown this week. He has also taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firing other top military leaders.

Hegseth has championed the military’s role in securing the US-Mexico border, deploying to American cities as part of Mr. Trump’s law enforcement surges, and carrying out strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the administration says targeted drug traffickers.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/trump-reveals-plan-to-use-us-cities-to-train-military-and-end-woke-culture-1813111.html