I think the biggest issue is can he manage the mumber of employees of the Pentagon and the soldiers. Who does he want to fill out the Deputy, Asst, Deputy Asst, Under SecDef positions?

In all seriousness - I think I am more qualified to be SECDEF than this guy and I am nowhere near being qualified to be SECDEF.

Maybe it's been addressed, but I haven't read the entire thread, does a cabinet appointee get any kind of security once they're selected? I would think a controversial pick would be a target.

JB99 said:

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fc2112 said:

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In all seriousness - I think I am more qualified to be SECDEF than this guy and I am nowhere near being qualified to be SECDEF.

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And in all seriousness you have no idea what qualifies as a good sec def candidate.

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Said without knowing to whom you speak.

P.U.T.U said:

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If you listen to his podcast interview with Shawn Ryan it sounds like he will focus more on transforming the military back to what it should be instead of making all of the decisions. Seems the new joint chiefs will be more of the military advisors and Hegseth will reform the military.

During the podcast he said we should:

• Get rid of all DEI/CRT. Anyone who has pushed those will be fired
• Refocus the military to do what it is supposed to do, kill people
• Focus on rebuilding our weapon stockpiles, our troops at the DMZ have 3 days worth of artillery. They sent over everything else to Ukraine
• Regain confidence in the military, said at this point we would lose a traditional confrontation against China, Russia, and maybe a few other countries. Don't have the proper manpower or equipment
• Get rid of most of the women in fighting roles such as infantry and special operations. If you cannot meet the current male standards you don't belong on the ground for those roles. Women belong in the military, just not in those roles.
• Get the physical standards back to pre-Obama levels
• Get rid of anyone with foreign ties to enemy nations like Iran, China, Russia
• Come up with plan to better defend infrastructure
• Increase missile capabilities, our entire naval surface fleet could get knocked out in a short period by hypersonic weapons

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That's a very impressive list! If he does that he'll be the best SECDEF of all time.

Demosthenes81 said:

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I can't wait for the confirmation hearing when the dems go after his tattoos.






Hell, just having a SecDef with a bicep will be mind blowing to the left.

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Glad I know the context here and that is our military. Still, I'd throw at least one female into that pic

Yeah, I was thinking that looked like a float in a Palm Springs parade if you don't know anything else about it.

Teslag said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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JB99 said:

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oldag941 said:

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I don't have a confidant, but have served with some of these men. And they are continuing to serve. I can say your confidant is painting with too broad a brush. So much of that is tied to personality. There is a whole group of retired generals and admirals that signed up to support Trump. To some extent, the senior leaders actions are a product of their CEO (the President). Just like in any other business. But I would be careful to paint with such a broad brush. There are some badass war fighters leading today. Lopping them off would be like "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

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And how did that work out last time? He hired super qualified guys he didn't know very well and they sabotaged him

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He knows Miller and Colby.

We're not arguing it's one or the other...you can have competency and know the guy.

Hegseth is a news anchor.

That's it...thats what he's spent the majority of his life doing.

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He's literally been in the military longer than he's been a news anchor.

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One weekend a month, two weeks a year doesnt make it a career.

K2-HMFIC said:

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Teslag said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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JB99 said:

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oldag941 said:

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I don't have a confidant, but have served with some of these men. And they are continuing to serve. I can say your confidant is painting with too broad a brush. So much of that is tied to personality. There is a whole group of retired generals and admirals that signed up to support Trump. To some extent, the senior leaders actions are a product of their CEO (the President). Just like in any other business. But I would be careful to paint with such a broad brush. There are some badass war fighters leading today. Lopping them off would be like "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

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And how did that work out last time? He hired super qualified guys he didn't know very well and they sabotaged him

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He knows Miller and Colby.

We're not arguing it's one or the other...you can have competency and know the guy.

Hegseth is a news anchor.

That's it...thats what he's spent the majority of his life doing.

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He's literally been in the military longer than he's been a news anchor.

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One weekend a month, two weeks a year doesnt make it a career.

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With current OPTEMPO his isn't your father's national guard.

What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

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The entire point of the military is to protect its citizens and the last means to do that is killing the enemy. We were not a human rights organization or world police like we have been used for the past 50 years

The Biden administration made it a point to advertise the faux notion of "diversity is our strength". Trans, DEI, and CRT policies were advertised on all of the military's social media platforms

The US military did force people to retire/quit for not taking the jab.

Your next 3 points let us know that only generals and admirals meet your prerequisite to take the SedDef

Military moral is at an all time low and for good reason. I've had several conversations with my friend who retired a little over a year ago as the command sergeant major for the army and he got out for having to deal with all of the BS.

And I initially do not like the pick, I did not want a general unless they had significant combat experience since most people above Lt Col are politicians in military uniforms but I wanted someone with more higher level leadership. Someone who is not afraid to ruffle feathers and not a Yes Man

K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

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- Should at least be training for it more most units
- Definitely is happening
- This happened
- True
- True
- True

K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

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You are right about one thing.

The job of our military is to kill people and break things. Period.

The greater our capacity to do those two things in overwhelming fashion, the greater the inverse relationship to peace in the world.

Rogue regimes that like to cause problems don't cause problems when they know they will be put down quickly and violently.

They may be evil, but they aren't stupid. They will sit on their hands out of a simple sense of self-preservation.

It's not more difficult to understand than that.

And by the way, that is how deterrence works.

4 said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

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You are right about one thing.

The job of our military is to kill people and break things. Period.

The greater our capacity to do those two things in overwhelming fashion, the greater the inverse relationship to peace in the world.

Rogue regimes that like to cause problems don't cause problems when they know they will be put down quickly and violently.

They may be evil, but they aren't stupid. They will sit on their hands out of a simple sense of self-preservation.

It's not more difficult to understand than that.

And by the way, that is how deterrence works.

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The job of the military is to deter (some of you guys need a lesson on how that works)...and to execute the national will.

Sometimes thats direct action, sometimes that HUMRO, sometimes FONOPS, sometimes its presence missions, sometimes its just sitting in a missile silo, sometimes its delivering cargo, sometimes its sitting watch at an isolated site watching a satellite...but the mission of the military is far far wider than killing people.

All of those are in assistance to killing enemies, or having the strength and ability to so other countries don't mess with the USA

I'm a firm believer in diversity in our military.

We need to be able to kill people equally via kinetic, nuclear, incendiary, etc.

And we must be inclusive as well! You mess with us, we kill you back - no discrimination based on race, religion, or sexual preference (your love of goats won't protect you)!

K2-HMFIC said:

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Teslag said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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JB99 said:

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oldag941 said:

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I don't have a confidant, but have served with some of these men. And they are continuing to serve. I can say your confidant is painting with too broad a brush. So much of that is tied to personality. There is a whole group of retired generals and admirals that signed up to support Trump. To some extent, the senior leaders actions are a product of their CEO (the President). Just like in any other business. But I would be careful to paint with such a broad brush. There are some badass war fighters leading today. Lopping them off would be like "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

---

And how did that work out last time? He hired super qualified guys he didn't know very well and they sabotaged him

---

He knows Miller and Colby.

We're not arguing it's one or the other...you can have competency and know the guy.

Hegseth is a news anchor.

That's it...thats what he's spent the majority of his life doing.

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He's literally been in the military longer than he's been a news anchor.

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One weekend a month, two weeks a year doesnt make it a career.

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He's been deployed to Gitmo, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

I doubt his deployments were over a weekend or a two week stint...

K2-HMFIC said:

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4 said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

---

You are right about one thing.

The job of our military is to kill people and break things. Period.

The greater our capacity to do those two things in overwhelming fashion, the greater the inverse relationship to peace in the world.

Rogue regimes that like to cause problems don't cause problems when they know they will be put down quickly and violently.

They may be evil, but they aren't stupid. They will sit on their hands out of a simple sense of self-preservation.

It's not more difficult to understand than that.

And by the way, that is how deterrence works.

---

The job of the military is to deter (some of you guys need a lesson on how that works)...and to execute the national will.

Sometimes thats direct action, sometimes that HUMRO, sometimes FONOPS, sometimes its presence missions, sometimes its just sitting in a missile silo, sometimes its delivering cargo, sometimes its sitting watch at an isolated site watching a satellite...but the mission of the military is far far wider than killing people.

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You don't deter enemies by not enforcing "red lines" and promoting LGBTQ causes on social media. You deter evil people by training the military to be a highly efficient killing machine that evil people fear. They don't fear you if you are unable or unwilling to follow through on threats and "red lines". Every task the military does should be focused on that mission of being able to be that highly efficient killing machine. If it isn't, it should be shunted wayyy down the list of priorities.

I highly recommend reading Pete Hegseth book the The War on Warriors.

For those that can't read or have trouble with reading comprehension, the book is also available on audio book.

Cliff notes of the book, is basically a play book of what is wrong with the military. And how to rid the military of all the anti woke, bureaucratic garbage that is plaguing military.

A true eye opener of the rot that has been building inside the pentagon and within the military ranks.

txags92 said:

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Yeah, I was thinking that looked like a float in a Palm Springs parade if you don't know anything else about it.

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Afraid some weird group would think, "Hey, our new Def Sec was at Fire Island".

My son gave me Pete's book last Christmas. Five stars. He is exactly what is needed to start cleaning up the Pentagon cesspool. End the woke DEI bull**** and restore the military to its former greatness. Set examples so that recruiting of a real warrior class of soldiers, sailors, and airmen can begin again in earnest. Restore the ratios of enlisted and officers to what is needed for an effective fighting force. Clean up procurement in a massive way. This is a huge task but it has to be done if this nation is to survive this century.

I like this pick.

1) He's a smart dude with great experience. Smart people like this will figure it out and assemble a team that help him work around the Pentagon bull*****

2) He's a fighter and has the right value system (completely anti-woke). We need a complete shift immediately and anyone else that's closer to the status quo is not good enough.

3) He's a flawed man. Who isn't? Trump is too. I just hope he's matured enough to know he's going to be a target from Day 1. I would expect a slew of honeypots being sent his way in the hopes of creating a scandal. I hope he's strong enough to fight off his on demons.

Aggieland Proud said:

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Serious question as I don't know. Does he have power to fire the generals or where does he power actually lie?

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it's not like he can just walk into the E-Ring and say "you are fired and you are fired and you are fired"

but he can ask for resignations, and he can decide not to renew tours of duty, and he can recommend officers to not get promoted when they are up in front of the Board.

the Chairman of JCS is up for renewal in 2025

fc2112 said:

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In all seriousness - I think I am more qualified to be SECDEF than this guy and I am nowhere near being qualified to be SECDEF.

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you have two bronze stars, a BA from Princeton, an MA from Harvard, two combat deployments and were promoted to Major?

research from my book:

A more distinguished group of Major Generals than those composing Early's command would be hard to find.

Each had proven his worth on battlefields all over the South. Early and Ramseur were graduates of West Point- the former in 1837, the latter in 1860.

Rodes claimed Virginia Military Institute as his alma mater, and Breckenridge was a graduate of Center College in Kentucky.

Gordon had spent several years at the University of Georgia, but left college before graduating.

Ramseur at age twenty-seven was the youngest of the five, with Early the oldest at age forty eight. Breckenridge was forty-three, Rodes thirty-five and Gordon thirty two years old.

LMCane said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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What I've learned how this forum perceives the military

- The majority of the military's day is looking for people to kill.
- When they're not doing that, we're trying to promote DEI and hold white people back
- If time available, forcibly vaccinate people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to lead and manage a 2 million people.
- The SecDef does not need to know how to engage with the leaders of foreign countries
- The SecDef does not need to have an understanding of how deterrence works, or tech dev, or managing a $800B budget.

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I would be happy if the SECDEF knows how to:

shoot down a Chinese spy balloon moving over every base in the USA,

or how to plan a retreat so we don't leave 2 billion dollars worth of equipment for the Taliban,

or let's his superiors know when he is having surgery rather than just going AWOL for two days,

or how to stop the Ukraine war,

or the Hamas war,

or how not to have dudes wearing dresses in the military.

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Not a single item you listed explains why a news anchor who sometimes wore a uniform should be SecDef.


Great list on challenges with Austin…

Teslag said:

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Quote:

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...but the mission of the military is far far wider than killing people.

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Currently. That's what Trump is trying to fix. Your vision is the wrong vision and why we got off track.

Quote:

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..and to execute the national will.

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Trump is.

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The name of the game is to deter…and if you haven't figured that out by now…then you haven't been paying attention.