From PBS NewsHour.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of U.S. military officials Tuesday who were quickly summoned from their posts around the globe, to announce several directives aimed at removing what he calls “woke garbage” in the armed forces.
He directed that combat arms jobs in each branch of the U.S. military “returns to the highest male standard only” and instituted a combat field test.
“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat arms 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,” Hegseth said.
In the address from the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, which lasted over an hour, Hegseth praised the Trump administration for eradicating “the social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department.”
Hegseth said the Pentagon is also reviewing its definitions of “toxic leadership,” hazing and bullying. While “nasty” bullying and hazing won’t be tolerated, he said, the terms had been “weaponized.”
“Achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do,” Hegseth said. “And if that makes me toxic, then so be it.”
He told the military officials in attendance that if they disliked his approach, “then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”
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