September 30, 2025 • 32 mins
Today’s rare, mysterious meeting with top U.S. military leaders turned out to be a headline making, jaw dropper. Secretary Pete Hegseth called hundreds of generals to Quantico Virginia to “raise the standards” of everyone in uniform. And according to Hegseth, raising those standards means no more “fat” generals, no more beards, no more “firsts” and every female must meet male standards
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, there're folks, it is Tuesday, September thirtieth, and get
your fat female deiass out of my military. I'm paraphrasing,
of course, but that from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
today And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy
and TJ. Now Rhodes, I wasn't going too far, and
(00:23):
how a lot of people what I say too far?
That's exactly how some people took his message today to
the generals.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And yet he said, by no means is he saying
that women shouldn't serve in the military. But he is
creating a system of standards that makes it very difficult,
and some might say, in certain roles impossible to serve.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, so, folks, this is the message you've been hearing
about this meeting he gave to the generals, some characterized
as a lecture. Now we are going to share with
you what he said today. We don't have to interpret,
we don't have to give you necessarily that much commentary.
But there was a lot today in a forty minute speech.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Forty five minutes, I think, yeah, depending.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On how much you saw, how much you read, We're
gonna let you hear exactly what he said. Just a
little sample. This is a direct quote from him today
in his speech to the generals.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No more identity months, dei offices, dudes in dresses, no
more climate change worship, no more division distraction or gender delusions,
no more debris.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He's talking to a room full of hundreds of generals
and admirals, the top military leaders that we have. Again,
some characterized it as a lecture, but he went through robes. Yes,
he is going to be changing a lot of policy,
but a big thing he was talking about today was culture,
and he wants to change the culture, and he went
through how he's going to do it. Now. The two
(01:53):
of us, we were in the middle of something else,
trying to work earlier today, and we were late getting
in another assignment of ours because we couldn't stop listening
and we couldn't believe what we were hearing. It was
that kind of shocking.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
People always say, oh wow, that was so jaw dropping.
I assure you both of our jaws were physically dropped
when we were listening to him. Very I mean, he
said the same thing in many different ways to make
sure that everyone understood exactly what he was saying. He
doubled down and tripled down on a lot of these
(02:28):
points that seemed shocking, especially even honestly just him using
the word fat. He said, no more fat generals, and
he's looking out to a sea of generals and some
of them weren't necessarily trim or thin.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, it was not everybody on planet Earth is supposed
to be right. I don't know whatever he's expecting, but
we'll go through in robes. This is not a matter. Look,
he's going to change some things said the military, and
there are plenty of folks, maybe not just Trump supporters,
but there'd be plenty of folks who heard what he
(03:04):
said today and will applaud that this is what the
military should be, should be doing, should look like, should
get women out, should get LGBTQ plus folks out. A
lot of people might agree with what he said today.
It was still in this moment to sound again we'd
always talk about inclusion, but he made an argument that
this is the military. We don't play games here. This
(03:25):
is life or death.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, but I do think Look, and he was saying,
no more you know, walking on eggshells around people, and
I get that, but he actually said we're clearing out
the debris and removing the distractions. It sounds dehumanizing, and
so it was just, look, I understand, he doesn't want
to put on kid gloves. This is the military. This
is about protecting our country. This is about protecting our
(03:48):
troops when they go outside of our country to either
protect other land or fight for our freedom. So I
get that this is a matter of life or death.
This is a lot that's on the line at stake.
But this was something like I have never heard before
in my life.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
All right, So he started off the top again. You
know about this, This is this mystery meeting that was
put together. Every one star general and above was summoned
to come back to Quantico, Virginia for this meeting today,
and nobody understood why exactly. Well, we got our answer,
and a lot of people say, yeah, you could have
sent me this memo. I did not to fly thousands
of miles as the argument. But he got up this morning,
(04:30):
stood in front of the troops, excuse me, not troops,
generals leaders, and he started with a bang if you will,
robes flat out off the top, good morning, and welcome
to the War Department. Because the era of the Department
of the defense is over.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
That's right. 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, unrelenting and uncompromising
in that pursuit.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
It was very forceful. It was very I'm not sure
the right way to characterize it, but it has been
characterized as macho, sending a message that that is alf
pure nothing. But we will bring the hammer strength. Nothing
else to talk about, nothing else to discuss, was his tone.
We should also note he was up there. It was
(05:20):
a prepared speech, full teleprompter. I don't think he missed
the word. Of course, this is a guy who is
a training TV guy, but this was a performance as
well today.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, he's a broadcaster. He knows how to read the
teleprompter and he knows how to read it passionately, which
is what he did today. I thought this was really interesting.
So he said, our number one job, of course, is
to be strong, so that we can prevent war. In
the first place, the President talks about it all the time.
It's called peace through strength. This next line through me,
(05:49):
and as history teaches us, the only people who actually
deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war
to defend it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Not sure how many ways to interpret and what necessarily
what exactly he meant. Rather, but that idea you stopped.
That was one of the moments you stopped to say, wait, wait, wait,
what who deserves peace?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Doesn't everyone deserve peace? I don't know. I mean, I
obviously he doesn't believe that, and there are clearly people
who don't believe that. But I was always brought up
to believe that we all deserve respect and peace.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It's just again, I don't know what he means that.
I don't want to get too hard on all that,
but I'm saying what it looks like, what you're right? No, no, no, no,
I don't know what he meant, but I know what
he said, and what he said is that not everybody
deserves peace, only those who are willing to fight a
war to defend no, no, wage war to defend it,
not even being.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
The aggressor, being on the offense, not on the defense.
That's why I don't think he likes the Department of Defense,
because this was a war rally, a cry for strength
and a decision to be on the offense, not on
the defense. And I do think that is why they
change the name personal opinion here, But that is what
this entire speech sounded like. Was what that we are
(07:05):
now going on the offense as a nation, this department
that he is leading, We are not going to be
defending ourselves. We are going to make sure that we
fight for what we believe to be the right way
and the only way.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
An idea of suggestion that you can't be strong, you
can't be seen as having strength if you are on
the defensive. Yes, it's semantics, but it was important to them.
Another line here from him today in the speech, should
our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be
crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department.
(07:40):
In other words, to our enemies, fa fo Now I
was And he looked at them after he said that
and say, you don't know what that means. Ask some
of your troops what that means. But it still he
used a little profanity. But fuck around and find out
is a bizarre thing to say to your enemy who
has bombs. Maybe, but it was. It was very aggressive speech.
(08:00):
And again some people it's fine and might have liked
exactly what they heard from the War Secretary.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yes. So he went on to say, this speech today
is about people, and it's about culture. The topic today
is about the nature of ourselves, because no plan, no program,
no reform, no formation will ultimately succeed unless we have
the right people and the right culture at the War Department.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Hey, they want an election, they can turn the department
into what they think the department should be. And he
went on to talk much in much detail about the
right culture that he now sees. He continues, the best
way to take care of troops is to give them
good leaders committed to war fighting culture of the department.
Not perfect leaders. Good leaders, competent, qualified, professional, agile, aggressive, innovative,
(08:51):
risk taking a political faithful to their oath and to
the constitution.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That's fair, That's fine. Our war fighters are entitled to
be led by the best and most capable leaders. That
is who we need you all to be.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Okay, so are you starting to go down that direction?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes. The military has been forced by foolish and reckless
politicians to focus on the wrong things in many ways.
This speech is about fixing decades of decay, some of
it obvious, some of it hidden, or, as the Chairman
has put it. We are clearing out the debris, moving
the distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders.
(09:28):
You might say, we're ending the war on Warriors. I
heard someone wrote a book about that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I'm bumped. Okay, thank you for that. Okay, so
we need to lighten that up. It was a it
was a surprising moment because what was his book? That
is at his book title, but he was at that
moment promoting I don't know what to say. He's promoting
his book or just mentioning his book or not. I
just maybe it was just a nice moment to put
(09:56):
it out there.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
He has a book that is entitled from twenty twenty
four the w War on Warriors.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, so he slid that in there. I mean, is
that okay? Fine? It was?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It was okay, yes, all right. So he goes on
to say, for too long, we've promoted too many uniformed
leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based
on gender quotas, based on historic so called first So
that was.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
A tough one. So called first, Like someone can't be
the first, so.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
A woman and yes, that's who he basically called out there.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
But somebody who could be the first woman could also
be the best person in that position. The first black
person can also happen to be the best person for it.
He didn't. He didn't allow for that.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I was gonna say. He didn't seem to leave space
for that from what I saw, and.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I've heard and dealt with this in certain points. If
every black person has has come up and corporate America
and big business, you always get, in some way accused
of only being there because of the of your skin.
We hear that accusation all the.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Time, that you're an affirmative action higher regain.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Drives us crazy because in that way, how do you
defend yourself? And in this way, how can you ever
say you are the best Because your defense secretary is
going to say you only got the job because of
the couse of your skin.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
He might say that now under these new standards, you
will be able to say that. That might be his argument.
I don't know. The administration, he goes on to say,
has done a great deal from day one to remove
social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had
infected our department, to rip out the politics. And this
(11:40):
is when he went on to say no more identity.
Months dei offices, dudes and dresses. No more climate change worship,
no more division distraction or gender delusions, no more debris
as yes, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Well for emphasis. Right after that, the next thing out
of his mouth was, as I've said before, and we'll
say again, we are done with that shit. I mean
he said that for emphasis, I suppose, But this was
a at times, I don't know, colloquial speech. It was casual.
I should say that it was a casual speech some
(12:13):
of the language he.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Used, that's right. And then he said he's made it
his mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us
less capable and less lethal. That said, the war Department
requires the next step.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
All right. This next section here is when he gets
into what we're talking about physical conditioning men, women, height, weight,
all kinds of physical standards. And in this reference, he
was asking what would you want your child's unit to be,
And he asked, quote, would you want him serving with
fat or unfit or undertrained troops or alongside people who
(12:48):
can't meet basic standards? Or in a unit where standards
were lowered so certain types of troops could get in it,
and a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other
than merit performance and war fighting. The answer is not
just no, it's hell no. Now's I think in a
lot of ways that that makes sense, does it not?
(13:12):
From a policy standpoint, that you don't want unfit people
out there putting other folks at risk? Is that a
reasonable thing to say?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Of course it is. Of course it's reasonable that you
want your best people there in the battlefield, especially if
your son or daughter were out there putting their life
on the line. The people around them, you would want
them to be the best of the best. I totally
understand that. But then he goes on to say this,
I don't want my son serving alongside troops who are
(13:42):
out of shape, or in combat units with females who
can't meet the same combat arm physical standards as men,
or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons,
platform or task, or under a leader who was the
first but not the best. Standards must be uniform, gender neutral,
and high. If not, they're not standards, they're just suggestions,
(14:05):
suggestions that get our sons and daughters killed. Look, I
get it to an extent. Of course, we want our
best folks out there, and that's who you would want
your child serving with one hundred percent, But to call
out specific people as already assuming they're not good enough,
they're not strong enough, they're not qualified enough, already putting
(14:26):
it out there that if you aren't basically a straight
white fit man, you have to prove yourself because we're
gonna assume you're not good enough. That's what it sounded
like to me.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That was the best summary I think I've heard, and
I should probably write that down. If you aren't this,
it's not that you're not good enough, but you are
going to have to prove in some way that you
measure up to this other thing we see as a
standard of culture, of height, of whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
This.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, that was That's the best I had. You have
to prove your prove.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Your worth because we're going to assume you aren't as
good as these straight white fit men.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
But the response is going to be that straight fit
white man is having to meet the same standards. Yes,
so everybody has the same standard.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And that's fine, but to point it out in this
speech is to make people already feel like they're not
good enough, To already make people feel like they're in
a different category and they're going to have to prove themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
To some people's point in their criticism of this, this
could have been done in a memo, meaning you could
have just said, Hey, everyone from now on has to
meet these standards, and here they are. That's all you
have to say. You don't have to say men, women,
DEI correct, anything else. You just say here they are exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So, if you if this is all about, if this
is just about changing the directives and the standards for
the US military, and I know there are slightly different
standards if you're a combat if you're going to go
into combat, if you're you, and if you're not. But
the point is put them into practice, give these directives
to your leaders, and then put it into action and
(16:15):
see what happens. Why make a huge that he says
he wants to take politics out of the military. This
seemed extremely political and very deliberate to put this speech
in front of cameras, have it roll live. There was
absolutely a political gain because he was speaking to certain
people who felt like, hell yeah, finally, So if this
(16:38):
was just about putting into practice, put it into practice
and have a standard, a uniform standard for the military,
this was more than that. I'm sorry, but it was.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
But we haven't even gotten to, folks the part about
dresses and beard Oz stay here.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And we continue now with the I think it's fair
to say shocking, jaw dropping speech that we saw the
Secretary of Defense, or as he likes to call himself,
the War Secretary Pete's Hegseth gave to hundreds of top generals,
(17:18):
military leaders who had to fly in from all around
the world to hear this speech. And wow, did he
drop some bombs. Yes, he wants to change the millet ND.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's a boy bomb.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, And you know what, I didn't even actually try
to be punny in that moment, but it just came
out that way. But we've been going over what he
directed these generals, what the new standards are going to be,
and in doing so, a lot of folks, a lot
of folks, well, they were frankly offended. And we'll let
you be the judge. After hearing what he had to say,
(17:51):
we actually listened, by the way, and wrote down the
forty five minute speech, so you don't have to listen
to the whole thing. If you want to go back
and see some excerpts there everywhere. If you'd like, But
Secretary Hegseth said this the era of politically correct, overly sensitive,
don't hurt anyone's feelings. Leadership ends right now at every level.
(18:12):
Either you can meet the standard, either you can do
the job. Either you are disciplined, fit and trained, or
you are out.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Just a disclaimer. Robot did add the voice feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
But look, I don't actually think any of that is
a necessarily a bad thing to say. I get it.
We want our troops to be tough, we want our
troops to be trained, we want our troops to be
in their best shape. I get that. If he had
just left it at that, I don't think we would
be doing a podcast today on this. On his speech,
because he didn't just say that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
He went on, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations or
really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely
unacceptable to the fat generals and admirals in the halls
of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and
the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and
it's not who we are. And he was saying this
(19:12):
to those very generals and admirals or at least some
of them who were in the room. I can't imagine
what they were thinking and feeling in that moment.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Look like a fit room of felons, really, I mean
they generals, they always look good in those uniforms, all
those guys.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
According to Pete heisth, we've got fat generals.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Oh, I don't know what. He's looking at them and saying,
and I don't know what is fat? What will they
call fat? And what? Dear lady, are you really? Are
you really not able to serve and have nothing to
offer the military if you're a little overweight.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Especially if you're not in a combat role where you
aren't having physical duties, if you have very important logistic duties,
very important commander duties where you're managing troops, you know it.
There's a woint bunch of folks who do a lot
of different jobs.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
He says, you're a blight. It's a bad look for
the military that you're overweight.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, he's gonna have them doing jumping jacks because he
said also today, at my direction, every warrior across our
joint force is required to do pt every duty day.
It should be common sense, and most units do that. Already,
but we are codifying it and we're not talking like
hot yoga and stretching. Again, that is a veiled attack
(20:29):
on women I think who do tend to like that
kind of exercise. We're talking real hard pt and as
either a unit or as an individual. He went on
to say, this also means grooving standards. No more beards,
long hair, superficial individual expression. We're going to cut our hair,
shave our beards, and adhere to standards. Because it's like
(20:51):
the broken windows theory in policing. It's like you let
the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes, so
you have to address the small stuff. This is on
duty in the field and in the rear. If you
want a beard, you can join special forces. If not,
then shave today at my direction. The era of unprofessional
appearance is over. I wonder if a lot of folks
(21:12):
applaud that. I mean, yeah, I think people do appreciate
the fact that this is about taking care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was there a time you go into the military, first
thing to do is buzz cut. First thing. Some might
applaud that, and some in a new era, and maybe
even some younger folks going into the military might not
find that to be in line with where we are
as a society and where this generation of yes is it.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So this is when he said the thing that definitely
came off as offensive. No more beardoze. The era of
rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if
you do not meet the male level physical standards for
combat positions, cannot pass a PT test, or don't want
to shave and look professional, it's time for a new
position or a new profession. Look, my question is tattoos piercings, like,
(22:03):
you know, how far do you take this? I'm curious he.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Probably won't go that far. Isn't he tatted up? Didn't
he have a problem with tattoos and got him off
of a detail.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
A lot of people feel the same way that he
feels about beards about tattoos. So it's just I mean,
it's just charge. That's true. That is true, That is true.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
This is getting a lot of attention the either the
headlines say he is taking hazing out of the military.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
No, he's he's taking anti hazing policies out of the military.
He's bringing hazing back, is what a lot of people
are believing.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Excuse me, he is bringing back the old time tradition
of hazing. Forgive me. Yes, as I was coming out,
it sounded wrong, can be right?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It was too hard to say it the way he
said it. Yes, he said, we are 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. That is frightening, tj that
(23:11):
is frightening. Of course, you 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.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Uh damn it. So again, you might have some out
there plenty who would applaud this. This is war these
this is tough stuff. You can't take a joke. You
can't take a little what some called maybe old fashioned
ribbing and jokes and practical jokes and yes, locker room talk,
(23:50):
that kind of talk, those kind of I don't know,
slapping with a towel, I don't know, that's considered hazing.
There you could tie someone to a gold post and
that was considered hazing. You can't do that football anymore. Right,
It's making somebody stay up all night and all the
I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Know what this is supposed to me or why it
push ups throughout the night and like all those things
we've seen, you know, that kind of hard labor physical.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
What did he always point to you? He keeps going
back to something about these policies and changing things make
it difficult to have a force that's ready. He keeps
saying this hurts readiness. Everything he's doing is to improve readiness.
So something he believes is handcuffing these guys in such
a way that they can't just be themselves.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I would love to have a conversation. I don't know
how anyone would feel about it about I just don't
remember their being And this could just be me not
being aware that our military was somehow broken, that we
weren't capable, that we aren't ready. I never knew that
that was something that was that we considered or that
anyone considered about the US military. Has that been a
(24:55):
big topic of discussion where this needs and we need
a complete overhaul of our military.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, because there was a Democrat in office for four
years between Trump's administrations. Yeah, so anytime, I mean, politically,
you have to talk about what you have to talk
about the economy, you got to talk about defending the country,
you got to talk about the troups. You got to
talk about the military, how you're going to strengthen, how
(25:23):
you're going to fund them in the way that your
opponent did not.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So you're saying this is politics.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
This is a lot of politics because.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
He's taking politics out of the military. That's what he
said today.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Oh, it was a whole heap in stink, pilar shit
of it today.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
That's what I heard. He then said this, after all
of what he said beforehand. 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.
And you know there's a butt coming the next word
out of his mouth. But when it comes to any
(25:59):
job that we 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 that is not the intent,
but it could be the result, so be it. I
(26:20):
will also mean it will also mean that weak men
won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat,
this is life or death.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Some people that would jump out of their absolutely applauding
what he just said. It's words. This is not this again,
this is war. Weak men, I guess think.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
But the argument could be made. Yes, I believe, and
I think everyone would agree that women, anyone who's serving
in the military, I don't care what color you are,
what gender you are, needs to meet a certain level
of physical fitness and standards. I get that. However, what
is not being considered is that sometimes using your brain,
having physical brain strength actually can be just as valuable.
(27:03):
So yes, I tell you it, war though I would
take it, or absolutely, you need to think clearly, you
need to have somebody.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh, he can tell you this about strength. He would
make the.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Argument to fire a gun, I need to have strength.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yes, This is the whole argument he was making today,
is that this has to do with physical standards, a
physical standard. What did you hear about him upping the
standard of a of a test that required brain power.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I believe that brain power is just as important oh im, and.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
A lot of people will agree. I completely agree. Plus
there are plenty of people who can't do as many
push ups as I can, who are much better in
a fight, or much better in a crisis than I.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Or a better shot, better sniper, a better a lot
of things.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
A room for that today, all right?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So he goes on to say, Pete Hexas goes on
to say, I look out at this group, and I
see great Americans, leaders who have given decades to our
great republic, at great sou scrifice to yourselves and to
your families. Do you hear a butt coming? I do
the next word out of his mouth. But if the
words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then
(28:11):
you should do the honorable thing and resign. We would
thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
There's another butt that's important here.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But I suspect I know the overwhelming majority of you
feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full. You
love the War Department because you love what you do,
the profession of arms. You are hereby liberated to be
an apolitical, hard charging, no nonsense constitutional leader that you
(28:39):
joined the military to be.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
If you think that felt like a rallying crime to them.
I mean, possibly that was taken as a compliment or
a oh okay, let me give this a shot. It
was a lot coming at them.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The man, I like, you know what I wish this
would actually like? And I don't know, but I would
have loved. You know, you always kind of wish you
could see people's thought bubblesness. I would have loved.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
And I don't know how I was received.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I don't know how what the thought bubbles would be,
but man, that would have been fascinating, fascinating. So Pete
Hagseth went on to say, we fight not because we
hate what's in front of us. We fight because we
love what's behind us. You see, the Ivy League faculty
lounges will never understand us, and that's okay because they
(29:24):
could never do what you do. The media will mischaracterize us,
and that's okay because deep down they know the reason
they can do what they do is you in this
and that's I appreciate that they do protect us absolutely
in this profession. You feel comfortable inside the violence so
that our citizens can live peacefully. Lethality is our calling
(29:45):
card and victory our only acceptable end state.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Sending a message with his words, He's sending a message
with his language that might sound like a rallying cry.
It might motivate. Not pretending to understand the mind of
a military man or woman. They are built different, in
my opinion, and I respect that. So I don't know
how they received. I just know what I heard today,
But there was some stuff in there that hell, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Perhaps they feel empowered, and perhaps they feel it's about
time that they were sick to pandering, to letting everybody
look I am look. I know you're the same way TJ.
As a parent and as somebody who came up in
the eighties, we didn't get participation, medals, didn't everybody didn't
have to feel good even when they didn't do well.
Everyone didn't get an A when they didn't have as
(30:32):
good of a test score. And we see a lot
of that today, where you don't give grades because you
don't want to upset people who didn't do as well
as you did. You don't want to give medals or
give first place. I get that that's frustrating, because I
do think that there should be a place and a
space to allow for excellence and to reward people who
work harder and who do better. I do believe that,
(30:53):
so I understand part of what he was saying. It's
just how he said it. And and I think the
question a lot of people are asking is why you know?
It felt like he went beyond what he needed to
say to get the message across.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And again that maybe was the message correct. Maybe well,
he did it exactly, This wasn't received in a way
that he didn't expectent. He did exactly what he wanted
to do, and there would be a lot of people
who applaud it. There are other people on the outside
like us who look and go, what the actual hell
by some of the language we're not used to seeing
(31:29):
someone speak in that manner, who was in that position,
And a lot of people say, well, it's about damn
time we did.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah, And I do think that the intent was shock
and awe, getting people to understand where they're coming from
and why they're doing what they do. And he said
it plainly. He definitely looked like he had rehearsed it.
He certainly was intentional. And everything he said, like you said,
it was on the prompter, It was written. This was
not something he just said, This is something he chose.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And every quote we read here today. I didn't have
to do it, verbet I was taking notes initially, and
then they posted the speech and it had those exact quotes.
They were lifted from what the Department of Defense put out,
so those were his words. A new military, a different military,
and a military that is h might be stranded in DC.
(32:20):
Government's about to shut down as we record this.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, they asked everyone to please get home quickly, and
if the government shuts down before they could get their
tickets or their way out, they'd have to wait until
the government reopens to get reimbursed. So the government will
be reimbursing these generals who flew thousands of miles, many
of them when the government reopens.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
All right, folks, we always appreciate you listening to Oz's
want to hop in and share what was an interesting
event today with Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes. We'll talk
to Alsto
Hey, there're folks, it is Tuesday, September thirtieth, and get
your fat female deiass out of my military. I'm paraphrasing,
of course, but that from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
today And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy
and TJ. Now Rhodes, I wasn't going too far, and
(00:23):
how a lot of people what I say too far?
That's exactly how some people took his message today to
the generals.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And yet he said, by no means is he saying
that women shouldn't serve in the military. But he is
creating a system of standards that makes it very difficult,
and some might say, in certain roles impossible to serve.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, so, folks, this is the message you've been hearing
about this meeting he gave to the generals, some characterized
as a lecture. Now we are going to share with
you what he said today. We don't have to interpret,
we don't have to give you necessarily that much commentary.
But there was a lot today in a forty minute speech.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Forty five minutes, I think, yeah, depending.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On how much you saw, how much you read, We're
gonna let you hear exactly what he said. Just a
little sample. This is a direct quote from him today
in his speech to the generals.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No more identity months, dei offices, dudes in dresses, no
more climate change worship, no more division distraction or gender delusions,
no more debris.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He's talking to a room full of hundreds of generals
and admirals, the top military leaders that we have. Again,
some characterized it as a lecture, but he went through robes. Yes,
he is going to be changing a lot of policy,
but a big thing he was talking about today was culture,
and he wants to change the culture, and he went
through how he's going to do it. Now. The two
(01:53):
of us, we were in the middle of something else,
trying to work earlier today, and we were late getting
in another assignment of ours because we couldn't stop listening
and we couldn't believe what we were hearing. It was
that kind of shocking.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
People always say, oh wow, that was so jaw dropping.
I assure you both of our jaws were physically dropped
when we were listening to him. Very I mean, he
said the same thing in many different ways to make
sure that everyone understood exactly what he was saying. He
doubled down and tripled down on a lot of these
(02:28):
points that seemed shocking, especially even honestly just him using
the word fat. He said, no more fat generals, and
he's looking out to a sea of generals and some
of them weren't necessarily trim or thin.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, it was not everybody on planet Earth is supposed
to be right. I don't know whatever he's expecting, but
we'll go through in robes. This is not a matter. Look,
he's going to change some things said the military, and
there are plenty of folks, maybe not just Trump supporters,
but there'd be plenty of folks who heard what he
(03:04):
said today and will applaud that this is what the
military should be, should be doing, should look like, should
get women out, should get LGBTQ plus folks out. A
lot of people might agree with what he said today.
It was still in this moment to sound again we'd
always talk about inclusion, but he made an argument that
this is the military. We don't play games here. This
(03:25):
is life or death.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, but I do think Look, and he was saying,
no more you know, walking on eggshells around people, and
I get that, but he actually said we're clearing out
the debris and removing the distractions. It sounds dehumanizing, and
so it was just, look, I understand, he doesn't want
to put on kid gloves. This is the military. This
is about protecting our country. This is about protecting our
(03:48):
troops when they go outside of our country to either
protect other land or fight for our freedom. So I
get that this is a matter of life or death.
This is a lot that's on the line at stake.
But this was something like I have never heard before
in my life.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
All right, So he started off the top again. You
know about this, This is this mystery meeting that was
put together. Every one star general and above was summoned
to come back to Quantico, Virginia for this meeting today,
and nobody understood why exactly. Well, we got our answer,
and a lot of people say, yeah, you could have
sent me this memo. I did not to fly thousands
of miles as the argument. But he got up this morning,
(04:30):
stood in front of the troops, excuse me, not troops,
generals leaders, and he started with a bang if you will,
robes flat out off the top, good morning, and welcome
to the War Department. Because the era of the Department
of the defense is over.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
That's right. 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, unrelenting and uncompromising
in that pursuit.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
It was very forceful. It was very I'm not sure
the right way to characterize it, but it has been
characterized as macho, sending a message that that is alf
pure nothing. But we will bring the hammer strength. Nothing
else to talk about, nothing else to discuss, was his tone.
We should also note he was up there. It was
(05:20):
a prepared speech, full teleprompter. I don't think he missed
the word. Of course, this is a guy who is
a training TV guy, but this was a performance as
well today.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, he's a broadcaster. He knows how to read the
teleprompter and he knows how to read it passionately, which
is what he did today. I thought this was really interesting.
So he said, our number one job, of course, is
to be strong, so that we can prevent war. In
the first place, the President talks about it all the time.
It's called peace through strength. This next line through me,
(05:49):
and as history teaches us, the only people who actually
deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war
to defend it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Not sure how many ways to interpret and what necessarily
what exactly he meant. Rather, but that idea you stopped.
That was one of the moments you stopped to say, wait, wait, wait,
what who deserves peace?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Doesn't everyone deserve peace? I don't know. I mean, I
obviously he doesn't believe that, and there are clearly people
who don't believe that. But I was always brought up
to believe that we all deserve respect and peace.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It's just again, I don't know what he means that.
I don't want to get too hard on all that,
but I'm saying what it looks like, what you're right? No, no, no, no,
I don't know what he meant, but I know what
he said, and what he said is that not everybody
deserves peace, only those who are willing to fight a
war to defend no, no, wage war to defend it,
not even being.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
The aggressor, being on the offense, not on the defense.
That's why I don't think he likes the Department of Defense,
because this was a war rally, a cry for strength
and a decision to be on the offense, not on
the defense. And I do think that is why they
change the name personal opinion here, But that is what
this entire speech sounded like. Was what that we are
(07:05):
now going on the offense as a nation, this department
that he is leading, We are not going to be
defending ourselves. We are going to make sure that we
fight for what we believe to be the right way
and the only way.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
An idea of suggestion that you can't be strong, you
can't be seen as having strength if you are on
the defensive. Yes, it's semantics, but it was important to them.
Another line here from him today in the speech, should
our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be
crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department.
(07:40):
In other words, to our enemies, fa fo Now I
was And he looked at them after he said that
and say, you don't know what that means. Ask some
of your troops what that means. But it still he
used a little profanity. But fuck around and find out
is a bizarre thing to say to your enemy who
has bombs. Maybe, but it was. It was very aggressive speech.
(08:00):
And again some people it's fine and might have liked
exactly what they heard from the War Secretary.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yes. So he went on to say, this speech today
is about people, and it's about culture. The topic today
is about the nature of ourselves, because no plan, no program,
no reform, no formation will ultimately succeed unless we have
the right people and the right culture at the War Department.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Hey, they want an election, they can turn the department
into what they think the department should be. And he
went on to talk much in much detail about the
right culture that he now sees. He continues, the best
way to take care of troops is to give them
good leaders committed to war fighting culture of the department.
Not perfect leaders. Good leaders, competent, qualified, professional, agile, aggressive, innovative,
(08:51):
risk taking a political faithful to their oath and to
the constitution.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That's fair, That's fine. Our war fighters are entitled to
be led by the best and most capable leaders. That
is who we need you all to be.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Okay, so are you starting to go down that direction?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes. The military has been forced by foolish and reckless
politicians to focus on the wrong things in many ways.
This speech is about fixing decades of decay, some of
it obvious, some of it hidden, or, as the Chairman
has put it. We are clearing out the debris, moving
the distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders.
(09:28):
You might say, we're ending the war on Warriors. I
heard someone wrote a book about that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I'm bumped. Okay, thank you for that. Okay, so
we need to lighten that up. It was a it
was a surprising moment because what was his book? That
is at his book title, but he was at that
moment promoting I don't know what to say. He's promoting
his book or just mentioning his book or not. I
just maybe it was just a nice moment to put
(09:56):
it out there.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
He has a book that is entitled from twenty twenty
four the w War on Warriors.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, so he slid that in there. I mean, is
that okay? Fine? It was?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It was okay, yes, all right. So he goes on
to say, for too long, we've promoted too many uniformed
leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based
on gender quotas, based on historic so called first So
that was.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
A tough one. So called first, Like someone can't be
the first, so.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
A woman and yes, that's who he basically called out there.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
But somebody who could be the first woman could also
be the best person in that position. The first black
person can also happen to be the best person for it.
He didn't. He didn't allow for that.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I was gonna say. He didn't seem to leave space
for that from what I saw, and.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I've heard and dealt with this in certain points. If
every black person has has come up and corporate America
and big business, you always get, in some way accused
of only being there because of the of your skin.
We hear that accusation all the.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Time, that you're an affirmative action higher regain.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Drives us crazy because in that way, how do you
defend yourself? And in this way, how can you ever
say you are the best Because your defense secretary is
going to say you only got the job because of
the couse of your skin.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
He might say that now under these new standards, you
will be able to say that. That might be his argument.
I don't know. The administration, he goes on to say,
has done a great deal from day one to remove
social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had
infected our department, to rip out the politics. And this
(11:40):
is when he went on to say no more identity.
Months dei offices, dudes and dresses. No more climate change worship,
no more division distraction or gender delusions, no more debris
as yes, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Well for emphasis. Right after that, the next thing out
of his mouth was, as I've said before, and we'll
say again, we are done with that shit. I mean
he said that for emphasis, I suppose, But this was
a at times, I don't know, colloquial speech. It was casual.
I should say that it was a casual speech some
(12:13):
of the language he.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Used, that's right. And then he said he's made it
his mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us
less capable and less lethal. That said, the war Department
requires the next step.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
All right. This next section here is when he gets
into what we're talking about physical conditioning men, women, height, weight,
all kinds of physical standards. And in this reference, he
was asking what would you want your child's unit to be,
And he asked, quote, would you want him serving with
fat or unfit or undertrained troops or alongside people who
(12:48):
can't meet basic standards? Or in a unit where standards
were lowered so certain types of troops could get in it,
and a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other
than merit performance and war fighting. The answer is not
just no, it's hell no. Now's I think in a
lot of ways that that makes sense, does it not?
(13:12):
From a policy standpoint, that you don't want unfit people
out there putting other folks at risk? Is that a
reasonable thing to say?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Of course it is. Of course it's reasonable that you
want your best people there in the battlefield, especially if
your son or daughter were out there putting their life
on the line. The people around them, you would want
them to be the best of the best. I totally
understand that. But then he goes on to say this,
I don't want my son serving alongside troops who are
(13:42):
out of shape, or in combat units with females who
can't meet the same combat arm physical standards as men,
or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons,
platform or task, or under a leader who was the
first but not the best. Standards must be uniform, gender neutral,
and high. If not, they're not standards, they're just suggestions,
(14:05):
suggestions that get our sons and daughters killed. Look, I
get it to an extent. Of course, we want our
best folks out there, and that's who you would want
your child serving with one hundred percent, But to call
out specific people as already assuming they're not good enough,
they're not strong enough, they're not qualified enough, already putting
(14:26):
it out there that if you aren't basically a straight
white fit man, you have to prove yourself because we're
gonna assume you're not good enough. That's what it sounded
like to me.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That was the best summary I think I've heard, and
I should probably write that down. If you aren't this,
it's not that you're not good enough, but you are
going to have to prove in some way that you
measure up to this other thing we see as a
standard of culture, of height, of whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
This.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, that was That's the best I had. You have
to prove your prove.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Your worth because we're going to assume you aren't as
good as these straight white fit men.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
But the response is going to be that straight fit
white man is having to meet the same standards. Yes,
so everybody has the same standard.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And that's fine, but to point it out in this
speech is to make people already feel like they're not
good enough, To already make people feel like they're in
a different category and they're going to have to prove themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
To some people's point in their criticism of this, this
could have been done in a memo, meaning you could
have just said, Hey, everyone from now on has to
meet these standards, and here they are. That's all you
have to say. You don't have to say men, women,
DEI correct, anything else. You just say here they are exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So, if you if this is all about, if this
is just about changing the directives and the standards for
the US military, and I know there are slightly different
standards if you're a combat if you're going to go
into combat, if you're you, and if you're not. But
the point is put them into practice, give these directives
to your leaders, and then put it into action and
(16:15):
see what happens. Why make a huge that he says
he wants to take politics out of the military. This
seemed extremely political and very deliberate to put this speech
in front of cameras, have it roll live. There was
absolutely a political gain because he was speaking to certain
people who felt like, hell yeah, finally, So if this
(16:38):
was just about putting into practice, put it into practice
and have a standard, a uniform standard for the military,
this was more than that. I'm sorry, but it was.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
But we haven't even gotten to, folks the part about
dresses and beard Oz stay here.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And we continue now with the I think it's fair
to say shocking, jaw dropping speech that we saw the
Secretary of Defense, or as he likes to call himself,
the War Secretary Pete's Hegseth gave to hundreds of top generals,
(17:18):
military leaders who had to fly in from all around
the world to hear this speech. And wow, did he
drop some bombs. Yes, he wants to change the millet ND.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's a boy bomb.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, And you know what, I didn't even actually try
to be punny in that moment, but it just came
out that way. But we've been going over what he
directed these generals, what the new standards are going to be,
and in doing so, a lot of folks, a lot
of folks, well, they were frankly offended. And we'll let
you be the judge. After hearing what he had to say,
(17:51):
we actually listened, by the way, and wrote down the
forty five minute speech, so you don't have to listen
to the whole thing. If you want to go back
and see some excerpts there everywhere. If you'd like, But
Secretary Hegseth said this the era of politically correct, overly sensitive,
don't hurt anyone's feelings. Leadership ends right now at every level.
(18:12):
Either you can meet the standard, either you can do
the job. Either you are disciplined, fit and trained, or
you are out.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Just a disclaimer. Robot did add the voice feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
But look, I don't actually think any of that is
a necessarily a bad thing to say. I get it.
We want our troops to be tough, we want our
troops to be trained, we want our troops to be
in their best shape. I get that. If he had
just left it at that, I don't think we would
be doing a podcast today on this. On his speech,
because he didn't just say that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
He went on, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations or
really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely
unacceptable to the fat generals and admirals in the halls
of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and
the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and
it's not who we are. And he was saying this
(19:12):
to those very generals and admirals or at least some
of them who were in the room. I can't imagine
what they were thinking and feeling in that moment.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Look like a fit room of felons, really, I mean
they generals, they always look good in those uniforms, all
those guys.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
According to Pete heisth, we've got fat generals.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Oh, I don't know what. He's looking at them and saying,
and I don't know what is fat? What will they
call fat? And what? Dear lady, are you really? Are
you really not able to serve and have nothing to
offer the military if you're a little overweight.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Especially if you're not in a combat role where you
aren't having physical duties, if you have very important logistic duties,
very important commander duties where you're managing troops, you know it.
There's a woint bunch of folks who do a lot
of different jobs.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
He says, you're a blight. It's a bad look for
the military that you're overweight.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, he's gonna have them doing jumping jacks because he
said also today, at my direction, every warrior across our
joint force is required to do pt every duty day.
It should be common sense, and most units do that. Already,
but we are codifying it and we're not talking like
hot yoga and stretching. Again, that is a veiled attack
(20:29):
on women I think who do tend to like that
kind of exercise. We're talking real hard pt and as
either a unit or as an individual. He went on
to say, this also means grooving standards. No more beards,
long hair, superficial individual expression. We're going to cut our hair,
shave our beards, and adhere to standards. Because it's like
(20:51):
the broken windows theory in policing. It's like you let
the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes, so
you have to address the small stuff. This is on
duty in the field and in the rear. If you
want a beard, you can join special forces. If not,
then shave today at my direction. The era of unprofessional
appearance is over. I wonder if a lot of folks
(21:12):
applaud that. I mean, yeah, I think people do appreciate
the fact that this is about taking care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was there a time you go into the military, first
thing to do is buzz cut. First thing. Some might
applaud that, and some in a new era, and maybe
even some younger folks going into the military might not
find that to be in line with where we are
as a society and where this generation of yes is it.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So this is when he said the thing that definitely
came off as offensive. No more beardoze. The era of
rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if
you do not meet the male level physical standards for
combat positions, cannot pass a PT test, or don't want
to shave and look professional, it's time for a new
position or a new profession. Look, my question is tattoos piercings, like,
(22:03):
you know, how far do you take this? I'm curious he.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Probably won't go that far. Isn't he tatted up? Didn't
he have a problem with tattoos and got him off
of a detail.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
A lot of people feel the same way that he
feels about beards about tattoos. So it's just I mean,
it's just charge. That's true. That is true, That is true.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
This is getting a lot of attention the either the
headlines say he is taking hazing out of the military.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
No, he's he's taking anti hazing policies out of the military.
He's bringing hazing back, is what a lot of people
are believing.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Excuse me, he is bringing back the old time tradition
of hazing. Forgive me. Yes, as I was coming out,
it sounded wrong, can be right?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It was too hard to say it the way he
said it. Yes, he said, we are 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. That is frightening, tj that
(23:11):
is frightening. Of course, you 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.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Uh damn it. So again, you might have some out
there plenty who would applaud this. This is war these
this is tough stuff. You can't take a joke. You
can't take a little what some called maybe old fashioned
ribbing and jokes and practical jokes and yes, locker room talk,
(23:50):
that kind of talk, those kind of I don't know,
slapping with a towel, I don't know, that's considered hazing.
There you could tie someone to a gold post and
that was considered hazing. You can't do that football anymore. Right,
It's making somebody stay up all night and all the
I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Know what this is supposed to me or why it
push ups throughout the night and like all those things
we've seen, you know, that kind of hard labor physical.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
What did he always point to you? He keeps going
back to something about these policies and changing things make
it difficult to have a force that's ready. He keeps
saying this hurts readiness. Everything he's doing is to improve readiness.
So something he believes is handcuffing these guys in such
a way that they can't just be themselves.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I would love to have a conversation. I don't know
how anyone would feel about it about I just don't
remember their being And this could just be me not
being aware that our military was somehow broken, that we
weren't capable, that we aren't ready. I never knew that
that was something that was that we considered or that
anyone considered about the US military. Has that been a
(24:55):
big topic of discussion where this needs and we need
a complete overhaul of our military.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, because there was a Democrat in office for four
years between Trump's administrations. Yeah, so anytime, I mean, politically,
you have to talk about what you have to talk
about the economy, you got to talk about defending the country,
you got to talk about the troups. You got to
talk about the military, how you're going to strengthen, how
(25:23):
you're going to fund them in the way that your
opponent did not.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So you're saying this is politics.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
This is a lot of politics because.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
He's taking politics out of the military. That's what he
said today.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Oh, it was a whole heap in stink, pilar shit
of it today.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
That's what I heard. He then said this, after all
of what he said beforehand. 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.
And you know there's a butt coming the next word
out of his mouth. But when it comes to any
(25:59):
job that we 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 that is not the intent,
but it could be the result, so be it. I
(26:20):
will also mean it will also mean that weak men
won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat,
this is life or death.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Some people that would jump out of their absolutely applauding
what he just said. It's words. This is not this again,
this is war. Weak men, I guess think.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
But the argument could be made. Yes, I believe, and
I think everyone would agree that women, anyone who's serving
in the military, I don't care what color you are,
what gender you are, needs to meet a certain level
of physical fitness and standards. I get that. However, what
is not being considered is that sometimes using your brain,
having physical brain strength actually can be just as valuable.
(27:03):
So yes, I tell you it, war though I would
take it, or absolutely, you need to think clearly, you
need to have somebody.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh, he can tell you this about strength. He would
make the.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Argument to fire a gun, I need to have strength.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yes, This is the whole argument he was making today,
is that this has to do with physical standards, a
physical standard. What did you hear about him upping the
standard of a of a test that required brain power.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I believe that brain power is just as important oh im, and.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
A lot of people will agree. I completely agree. Plus
there are plenty of people who can't do as many
push ups as I can, who are much better in
a fight, or much better in a crisis than I.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Or a better shot, better sniper, a better a lot
of things.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
A room for that today, all right?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So he goes on to say, Pete Hexas goes on
to say, I look out at this group, and I
see great Americans, leaders who have given decades to our
great republic, at great sou scrifice to yourselves and to
your families. Do you hear a butt coming? I do
the next word out of his mouth. But if the
words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then
(28:11):
you should do the honorable thing and resign. We would
thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
There's another butt that's important here.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But I suspect I know the overwhelming majority of you
feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full. You
love the War Department because you love what you do,
the profession of arms. You are hereby liberated to be
an apolitical, hard charging, no nonsense constitutional leader that you
(28:39):
joined the military to be.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
If you think that felt like a rallying crime to them.
I mean, possibly that was taken as a compliment or
a oh okay, let me give this a shot. It
was a lot coming at them.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The man, I like, you know what I wish this
would actually like? And I don't know, but I would
have loved. You know, you always kind of wish you
could see people's thought bubblesness. I would have loved.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
And I don't know how I was received.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I don't know how what the thought bubbles would be,
but man, that would have been fascinating, fascinating. So Pete
Hagseth went on to say, we fight not because we
hate what's in front of us. We fight because we
love what's behind us. You see, the Ivy League faculty
lounges will never understand us, and that's okay because they
(29:24):
could never do what you do. The media will mischaracterize us,
and that's okay because deep down they know the reason
they can do what they do is you in this
and that's I appreciate that they do protect us absolutely
in this profession. You feel comfortable inside the violence so
that our citizens can live peacefully. Lethality is our calling
(29:45):
card and victory our only acceptable end state.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Sending a message with his words, He's sending a message
with his language that might sound like a rallying cry.
It might motivate. Not pretending to understand the mind of
a military man or woman. They are built different, in
my opinion, and I respect that. So I don't know
how they received. I just know what I heard today,
But there was some stuff in there that hell, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Perhaps they feel empowered, and perhaps they feel it's about
time that they were sick to pandering, to letting everybody
look I am look. I know you're the same way TJ.
As a parent and as somebody who came up in
the eighties, we didn't get participation, medals, didn't everybody didn't
have to feel good even when they didn't do well.
Everyone didn't get an A when they didn't have as
(30:32):
good of a test score. And we see a lot
of that today, where you don't give grades because you
don't want to upset people who didn't do as well
as you did. You don't want to give medals or
give first place. I get that that's frustrating, because I
do think that there should be a place and a
space to allow for excellence and to reward people who
work harder and who do better. I do believe that,
(30:53):
so I understand part of what he was saying. It's
just how he said it. And and I think the
question a lot of people are asking is why you know?
It felt like he went beyond what he needed to
say to get the message across.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And again that maybe was the message correct. Maybe well,
he did it exactly, This wasn't received in a way
that he didn't expectent. He did exactly what he wanted
to do, and there would be a lot of people
who applaud it. There are other people on the outside
like us who look and go, what the actual hell
by some of the language we're not used to seeing
(31:29):
someone speak in that manner, who was in that position,
And a lot of people say, well, it's about damn
time we did.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah, And I do think that the intent was shock
and awe, getting people to understand where they're coming from
and why they're doing what they do. And he said
it plainly. He definitely looked like he had rehearsed it.
He certainly was intentional. And everything he said, like you said,
it was on the prompter, It was written. This was
not something he just said, This is something he chose.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And every quote we read here today. I didn't have
to do it, verbet I was taking notes initially, and
then they posted the speech and it had those exact quotes.
They were lifted from what the Department of Defense put out,
so those were his words. A new military, a different military,
and a military that is h might be stranded in DC.
(32:20):
Government's about to shut down as we record this.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, they asked everyone to please get home quickly, and
if the government shuts down before they could get their
tickets or their way out, they'd have to wait until
the government reopens to get reimbursed. So the government will
be reimbursing these generals who flew thousands of miles, many
of them when the government reopens.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
All right, folks, we always appreciate you listening to Oz's
want to hop in and share what was an interesting
event today with Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes. We'll talk
to Alsto
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