Trump has shown his intention to reform the US military. What for?..

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia.
Photo: Getty Images

"The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don't-hurt-anyone's-feelings leadership ends right now," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the gathering at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia – a secure site an hour south of the nation's capital, ABC reports.

Hegseth called for "no more division, distraction or gender delusions" in an extraordinarily blunt speech on the importance of the "warrior ethos," a term he uses to describe the spirit that makes combat units effective.

"We must be prepared," he said. "Either we're ready to win or we are not."

Hegseth issued new directives that will raise physical standards for everyone in uniform to a "male level," toughen grooming standards, lift restrictions on rules of engagement, do away with racial quotas, and end restrictions on hazing for boot camp recruits.

He demanded no more "fat generals," saying all service members would need to meet fitness tests and grooming standards.

"No more beardos," he said. "The era of unacceptable appearance is over."

"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."

He said he is also "overhauling" the DOD's Inspector General's Office that is investigating him for creating a culture of "walking on eggshells" that he said "has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver's seat."

"Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the 'Woke Department,' but not anymore," he said.

The secretary added that the department is "clearing the way for leaders to be leaders."

"You might say we are ending the war on warriors," Hegseth, who now goes by the title "secretary of war," said.

He told his audience that if all the new standards he has unveiled makes their "hearts sink," then they should resign.

Senior military leaders look on at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia. Almost 800 generals, admirals and their senior enlisted leaders were ordered into one location from around the world on short notice.
Photo: Getty Images

What to know about Hegseth's gathering of top U.S. military leaders at Quantico, Virginia. CBS informs:

• Hundreds of generals and admirals were summoned from around the world last week for today's unusual meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, without initially being told why.
• Hegseth promoted the new name — the Department of War, although it has not officially been changed by Congress — and slammed "toxic leaders," whom he accused of lowering standards to make the Defense Department the "woke department."
• Hegseth told the military leaders he's rolling out 10 new directives involving physical fitness, new grooming requirements and a return to "the highest male standard" for combat positions. He slammed what he said were "fat troops" and added "it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the world. It's a bad look."
• President Trump also addressed the generals, saying "together, we're reawakening the warrior spirit." His remarks, over an hour long, also included discussions of the Nobel Peace Prize, peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas and his love of tariffs.

CBS reports:

Hegseth said that he is rolling out 10 new directives that involve physical fitness, new grooming requirements and a return to "the highest male standard" for combat positions.

"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," he said.

The Defense secretary suggested that he welcomes a loosening of the rules of engagement.

"We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement," he said. "We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country."

The secretary likened the new standards for the military to President Trump's global tariffs announced in April, which the president called "Liberation Day," and said the directives Hegseth is rolling out marks the "liberation of America's warriors, in name, indeed, and in authorities."

"You kill people and break things for a living," Hegseth said.

Hegseth alleged that since the War Department's name was changed in 1947, the U.S. has not won a "major theater war." He credited former President Ronald Reagan's military buildup for winning the 1991 Gulf War, which occurred under Reagan's successor, former President George H.W. Bush. He also attributed that victory to military leaders who had previous "formative battlefield experience" during the Vietnam War.

"They said 'never again' to mission creep or nebulous end states," Hegseth said. "The same holds true today. Our civilian and military leadership is chock-full of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who say 'never again' to nation building and nebulous end states."

He said "this clear-eyed view — all the way to the White House" and Mr. Trump's "military buildup" would posture the U.S. for future victories.

"We embrace the War Department, and we must," Hegseth said. "We are preparing everyday to win, not just to defend. Defense is something you do all the time. It's inherently reactionary and can lead to overuse, overreach and mission creep."

President Trump greets Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he arrives to speak to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, 2025.
Photo: Getty Images

Mr. Trump started his speech by encouraging the military leaders who were assembled at the meeting that they are free to applaud or even leave the room if they disagree with his comments. But he added that if they leave the room, "there goes your rank, there goes your future."

He also slammed the Biden administration and joked that he expected more pushback to his directive changing the "Department of Defense" to the "Department of War."

"There can be no higher honor than to serve as your commander-in-chief," adding that the military leaders attending the meeting appear out of "central casting."

Mr. Trump told military leaders that the armed forces under his administration "will not be politically correct" when it comes to American freedom and pledged it will be a "fighting and winning machine."

"We're bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character and strength, and that's because the purpose of the American military is not to protect anyone's feelings. It's to protect our republic," he said.

The president said he has committed to spending more than $1 trillion on the military in 2026.

Mr. Trump also said his administration will be expanding the U.S. Navy by 19 ships, including submarines, destroyers and assault ships. But he said he does not like the look of some of the vessels, adding "an ugly ship is not necessary."

During comments about protests against immigration enforcement actions, the president recalled seeing demonstrators yelling at soldiers and other federal law enforcement officers who he said want to "knock the hell out of the person," but can't.

"She starts spitting in his face and he's not allowed to do anything," Mr. Trump claimed. "If it's OK with you, generals and admirals, I've taken that off. I say, 'They spit. We hit.' Is that OK? We think so."

The president praised his decision to adopt the name "Department of War" and said he believes the re-naming will deter conflict.

"The Department of War is going to stop wars," he said. The name of the department can only be officially changed by an act of Congress.

He said his administration will be making more announcements in the future to "fully embrace the identity of the Department of War."

Trump says cities can be "training grounds" for military; mentions order he signed may help handle "the enemy within"

The president raised his controversial use of the military for law enforcement, telling military leaders that an executive order he signed in August would help the military "quell civil disturbances" and handle "the enemy within." 

"Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances," Mr. Trump said. "This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it's the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won't get out of control."

In August, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing the defense secretary to ensure that each state's National Guard is resourced, trained, organized and available to help in "quelling civil disturbances." It also directed the defense secretary to designate a number of each state's National Guard to be available for this purpose.

The president has sent the military into Washington, D.C., and plans to deploy the National Guard to Portland to curb crime, though neither the district nor Portland has asked for troops to help with law enforcement. He said to the military leaders that the cities could function as "training grounds" for troops: "I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military. National Guard, but our military. Because we're going into Chicago very soon. That's a big city with an incompetent governor."

Military members listen as President Donald Trump addresses senior military officers gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, September 30, 2025.
Photo: Reuters

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has long maintained that the U.S. military badly needed a leader with dust on his boots to shake up a force that has gone soft and “woke,” ‘The New York Times’ notes.

On Tuesday, he faced a room of hundreds of generals and admirals, whom he had summoned from across the globe, and made the case that he was that leader.

Mr. Hegseth’s vision of the military and what it should be was almost entirely defined by his 12 months of service in Iraq and his experience as a major in the Army National Guard.

Much of his address focused on the kinds of issues he would have dealt with as a young platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq or as a company commander in the Guard. He talked about grooming standards. “No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression,” he told the brass. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave, shave our beards and adhere to standards.”

He preached the importance of physical fitness. “Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”

And he suggested that fixing these problems was the first step toward repairing a military that, since World War II, had lost the ability to win wars.

To some, Mr. Hegseth’s speech was poorly matched to his audience of senior officers who in most cases are responsible for complex military operations such as the maintenance of nuclear submarines, America’s global alliances or the development of complex air-tasking orders, such as the one needed for the strikes on Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year.

The military officers assembled in the room listened silently. It is likely, though, that at least some of them were seething at his suggestion that their collective failure to enforce basic standards had caused, or even contributed to, the military’s failings in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I mean, first of all, that’s like an insane insult to his senior officers, who all made their bones fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Elliot Ackerman, who led Marines in the second battle of Falluja and served with a Marine special operations unit in Afghanistan. “Those guys have got a lot more dust on their boots than he does.”

Mr. Hegseth said one of his major tasks has been to separate those officers who were truly invested in the changes that he believed had weakened the force and those who were grudgingly following lawful orders. His goal seemed to be to turn back the clock to the simpler, more straightforward World War II era, when women were excluded from combat units. Mr. Hegseth said that he did not want to prevent women from serving in combat roles. Rather, he said, he wanted to hold them to the “highest male standard.”

The World War II era, he repeatedly noted, was the last time the United States won “a major theater war.” The nostalgia-soaked speech, though, did not acknowledge how much had changed in the last 75 years. In World War II, the entire country mobilized to fight the fascist Axis forces in a war that would change the course of history.

Today, the military Mr. Hegseth leads faces a world of complex and shifting security challenges that require the Pentagon to work through allies and partners. Often the enemies’ actions in cyberspace or the information domain are intended to weaken American resolve and credibility without tipping into all-out war.

Mr. Hegseth’s vision of military strength left little room for these subtleties. Nor did it mention the recent deployment of National Guard soldiers to places like Washington, D.C.

...Trump has shown his intention to reform the US military. The question is, for what purpose?

To fight Russia?

To fight China?

Or, perhaps, to fight Trump's opponents within America itself?

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