Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a statement on current operational objectives and goals within the Pentagon. In these remarks Secretary Hegseth outlines his goal and responsibility to deliver truthful information to the American people about what is going on behind the scenes. Cool Stuff. WATCH:
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Posted in Military
Refreshing.
Isn’t it ironic that the contemporary democrat party has evolved to be an exact replica of what the media and opposition always accused the republicans of, i.e., party of war/war-mongerers/heavy defense spending/corruption/et al; to me, there’s no greater indication of our being ruled by a Uni-Party, i.e., ’til Trump decided he would run.
I’ve been noticing this a lot lately. And not just the pols. It’s their voters too. All of a sudden they can’t lick the status quo/establishment boot hard enough (an insult they LOVE to throw at non-leftists.)
Same as it ever was. Been parsing their ‘product’ to the molecular level, since the Cold War. It’s just more visible now, thanks to their desperation and to alternative media in the hands of serious truth-seekers like Sundance, James O’Keefe, Rush Limbaugh…etc, etc.
Doom On You, commies/enemedia – with extreme prejudice!
4:30: What is not part of the 8% refocusing of funds…
4:57: …the defense industrial base…
Formerly known as the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC).
This is the root problem: The US has largely deindustrialized, and “Making war without industry is an oxymoron”.
The post-WWII industrial strength is gone, this is the basis of all the rest of the decline of the US – including the military.
We’re even totally dependent on China/Asia for the semiconductors and other electronics necessary to operate, from components all the way to finished devices, and there is no way this supply chain can be transferred to US control. (What are you reading this on?)
Right now, there’s a lot of talk about revitalizing the US military. Good, and long overdue – but:
Without trust, an organization remains profoundly dysfunctional. “It takes years to build trust, but only seconds to destroy it”. How long will it take to restore trust after the abuses? How long would it take to rebuild industry in the face of global dominance ceded to China et al along with the loss of US competencies, in a wary distrustful environment?
According to many, here’s one of the keys things that destroyed trust within the DoD:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/20/exclusive-army-was-sending-junior-pilots-straight-from-flight-school-to-fly-top-dc-missions-until-2023/
‘ “The vaccine … drove a lot of people out. That was huge. That destroyed not just aviation, but the military, and the trust between our senior leaders. … So that really broke the fabric between commander and subordinate, because they all kind of just lock step went along with it. ” ‘
And yet, here’s Trump complimenting Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla at a White House event:
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1892832657496572045?mx=2
Every day, more studies come out confirming what was already known in early 2021 despite the censorship and propaganda: The shots are not only ineffective for their stated purpose, they are also gravely harmful. Many who refused the shots were already aware of this in 2021 onward. The shot pushers were surely aware as well.
You tell me: What is the outlook for restoring the necessary trust?
“Every day, more studies come out confirming what was already known in early 2021 despite the censorship and propaganda: The shots are not only ineffective for their stated purpose, they are also gravely harmful. Many who refused the shots were already aware of this in 2021 onward. The shot pushers were surely aware as well.”
To this day, much of that information is only readily available to those publishing on substack.
Millions of doctors are bamboozled & deceived by the big pharma/ medical complex. Others are blackmailed into compliance & submission.
https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/lament-of-the-vaxx-injured-video
https://open.substack.com/pub/amidwesterndoctor/p/yale-proved-covid-vax-injury-exists
https://open.substack.com/pub/josephsansone/p/more-americans-died-due-to-covid
https://open.substack.com/pub/pierrekory/p/ny-vaccine-clinics-called-ambulance
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/deconstructing-nih-cdc-and-fda-culture
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/vaccine-deep-state-insanity
“… Like everything in the US Government, the structure of informal “Deep State” organization is parsed into silos based on subject areas and interests. Those making decisions about which governments are friends, which are to be treated as foes, and which should be targeted for “regime change” are not the same ones making decisions about what biological agents are potential threats, how to monitor those threats (bio-surveillance) and how those threats should be mitigated (biodefense). Each of these silos have their own “Overton window” of allowed ideas and discourse. Basically, there are allowed and allowable ideas and ways of addressing the problems that a particular silo is tasked with managing. Those who do not respect those boundaries of thought, speech, and potential solution sets are shunned, excluded, and in some cases ridiculed…”
https://open.substack.com/pub/stevekirsch/p/covid-vaccine-injury-study-published
https://open.substack.com/pub/petermcculloughmd/p/dr-mccullough-testifies-in-idaho
https://open.substack.com/pub/tomrenz/p/rfk-confirmed-but-pfizer-still-owns
A doctor admitted to me that they benefit financially from all of the drugs they prescribe, and all the tests and procedures they order. There is tremendous inertia to overcome in order to change the system as it stands today.
Pediatricians are paid to vaccinate as much as possible.
The pattern in media is to blame wokeism for the destruction of trust underlying the military dysfunction and drop in recruitment.
Wokeism is doubtless part of the reasons, but the shot mandates are also apparently a big factor, yet the media has been mostly silent about this.
In fact, some ask whether wokeism could be a red herring in this regard.
The negative effects of the shot mandates were bound to snowball. Now we start seeing related things like the Blackhawk over the Potomac, as suggested in the Breitbart article.
It is not only the destroyed trust itself that takes years to remedy, but also the problems caused by loss of trust.
But as highlighted above, Trump continuing to publicly praise shot pushers like Bourla while talking about making things better, does not promote trust rebuilding needed for restoring the military.
Are such diverse views allowed on CTH?
“But as highlighted above, Trump continuing to publicly praise shot pushers like Bourla while talking about making things better”
I put PDJT in the “Bamboozled /deceived” column for now. However, there were two or three national leaders (Caribbean & Africa) that refused the jabs for their people and ended up dying under questionable circumstances. Sorry, no links handy.
That whole worldwide plandemic scenario was a military operation that co-opted the medical community for it’s implementation. I might be able to find the recent link for that factoid.
Trump was still taking credit for Op Warp Speed in the campaign, Truthing out the claim it saved millions of lives. He’s not evolved on that at all.
What do you do with that disturbing fact, considering all the right positions he’s taken, and choosing RFK Jr to work with? It doesn’t add up to me. Perhaps you cannot get to the WH without kissing Pfizer’s ring.
“Perhaps you cannot get to the WH without kissing Pfizer’s ring.”
Perhaps you cannot stay alive without kissing Pfizer’s ring. I do not have links for the two or three leaders that died after refusing to let their people get jabbed.
Found the article, I can no longer edit the original reply:
https://www.malone.news/p/was-dod-the-managing-agency-for-operation
“Quite a bit of controversy has been generated by those who assert that the Pfizer contract issued by the DoD for the Bio N Tech mRNA COVID “vaccines” proves that the DoD was the managing agency for the development of this product. The phrase “Pfizer did not commit fraud, but rather delivered the fraud that the US Government ordered” certainly has more than a grain of truth. In contrast, my understanding and analysis indicates that the leading proponents of the theory that this contract proves that DoD was the agency that managed operation warp speed appear to not have a full appreciation of the nuances, and have overstated the implications. The purpose of this essay is to help the general public to gain more insight into the back story of this non-Federal Acquisition Regulations contract, which employed a non-traditional federal contracting vehicle known as an “Other Transactional Authority” contract….”
Pfizer CONSPIRED AND PROMOTED the fraud. This needs to be prosecuted.
Some of us subscribe to Dr. Malone on substack – highly recommended.
he has all the receipts and knows how that nasty marriage of secret agencies and big pharma operates!
Yep I had the same reaction. He is also retreating on probie employees. That is EXACTLY why the Biden regime stuffed the ranks!!! To kick in all those loyal Democrat government worker voters. There’s a reason why DC votes 95% Democrat. They’re all government employees.
It’s just dense to keep those people on the job. Fire the probies and immediately start a RIF of the civilian workforce. On the uniform side, reinstate the Fat Boy program, kick out the obese (give them 12 months to lose the weight), and immediately discharge the trannies. And DO NOT send more money to contractors to hire the fired employees.
I don’t think people are listening with both ears.
I wonder how ‘merit’ is measured beyond males not wearing a dress or using the Women’s restroom. It seems that generally, not singing out of the right hymnal (no thinking for yourself) can get you fired from SpaceX, probably the same at the DoD and inside the Trump administration.
Most of what is happening is canning liberals that have no ‘merit’ usefulness [all good], but the defense industrial base [MIC] is where the real savings will be found.
‘ It seems that generally, not singing out of the right hymnal (no thinking for yourself) can get you fired from SpaceX, probably the same at the DoD and inside the Trump administration. ‘
I see somebody gets it:
When people are in fear of being fired for reasons unrelated to their job performance, they will mostly do whatever they think it takes to make the Boss happy.
Including unethical or illegal things in some cases.
This was part of the rationale for the Civil Service system that replaced the Spoils System in government.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform_Act
To be sure, the Civil Service protections have become abused by some civil servants, but most do not.
But stripping the protections as Trump is doing means employees will revert to doing whatever it takes to make the boss happy, including (yes) wasteful, fraudulent, or abusive things the boss wants done – unethical/illegal things.
Ironic, no?
Some may suspect that what is happening seems designed to set the stage for a coming state of government with less internal opposition to tyrannical designs by government leadership. That’s a rational suspicion
I take his term “defense industrial base” to mean gov’t facilities like the naval shipyards and air force maintenance centers like Oklahoma City.
what
Moms tried trusting the medical industrial base and got VAERS.
DPT: Vaccine Roulette (1982) – Full Documentary
https://rumble.com/v2bs3nw-dpt-vaccine-roulette-1982-full-documentary.html
outlook
RFK: We don’t have a surveillance system that actually works
https://x.com/ericldaugh/status/1890198713521348849
https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/zelensky-and-russiagate-spookwar
An interesting article on why President Trump, might also be seeking to pull the brakes on the Ukrainian gravy-train.
The EU can keep paying up for that sorry crew, of bloodsoaked grifters.
If they want to…
The brakes have been applied. Shipments of weapons has been halted. Let the Ukranians try to fight with their pocket knives and their interest in living in peace with their neighbor will be restored.
gravy-train
Why CIA Director Brennan Visited Kiev: In Ukraine The Covert War Has Begun
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/04/16/why-cia-director-brennan-visited-kiev-in-ukraine-the-covert-war-has-begun/
EU
“The President’s instincts on Ukraine are absolutely right.”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114033427089061668
Thank you, SecDef Hegseth. It will be great to have Defense Department focused on keeping the country safe and keeping the military the best it can be. Bravo to you and your Commander-in-Chief Donald J. Trump!!
He seems sincere and I like his approach but the elephant in the room is that while he’s criticizing the legacy media, he’s ignoring the fact that the legacy media and all their propaganda come from the military itself. No one EVER points the finger at the military though which is sad.
“No one EVER points the finger at the military though which is sad.”
What about this?
https://open.substack.com/pub/stevekirsch/p/this-medical-data-from-the-us-dod
“…On February 1, 2022, US Senator Ron Johnson sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on February 1 highlighting the dramatic rise in adverse events reported in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) after the vaccines were rolled out to the military. If the vaccines are truly “safe and effective,” these increases are difficult to explain.
Click the image to read the entire 3 page letter outlining some of the increased events:..”
——————–
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/was-dod-the-managing-agency-for-operation
“….Quite a bit of controversy has been generated by those who assert that the Pfizer contract issued by the DoD for the Bio N Tech mRNA COVID “vaccines” proves that the DoD was the managing agency for the development of this product. The phrase “Pfizer did not commit fraud, but rather delivered the fraud that the US Government ordered” certainly has more than a grain of truth. In contrast, my understanding and analysis indicates that the leading proponents of the theory that this contract proves that DoD was the agency that managed operation warp speed appear to not have a full appreciation of the nuances, and have overstated the implications. The purpose of this essay is to help the general public to gain more insight into the back story of this non-Federal Acquisition Regulations contract, which employed a non-traditional federal contracting vehicle known as an “Other Transactional Authority” contract….”
‘ “….Quite a bit of controversy has been generated by those who assert that the Pfizer contract issued by the DoD for the Bio N Tech mRNA COVID “vaccines” proves that the DoD was the managing agency for the development of this product. ‘
We’re talking about DoD, let’s continue pulling this thread:
This, and reports that DARPA initiated the virus development, its completion then facilitated by USAID (CIA/DoD) using the Wuhan CCP lab which then released it, are why some believe this was a two-part bioweapon aimed at the US Bloc by the US DoD Controllers*.
(Virus+shots)
This possibility is reinforced by the fact that China and Russia et al did not coerce their people to take the shots, and the mounting evidence that the shot harms far outweigh the virus harms long term.
And many more modRNA shots on the way, including the replicons – aimed at the US Bloc only.
Biowarfare democide by attrition, of the US Bloc?
Back to Hegseth and Trump (and his public praise of Pfizer’s Bourla): Where do you suppose this leads?
As long as the shot harms are not fully exposed in the public square, with permanent banning, the harms continue. The signs imply that this is exactly the Plan.
(* Who might the Controllers be?)
The controllers, IMO, are the oligarchs that believe there are too many people on the planet, so they are trying to cull us without resorting to nuclear war, which messes up the real estate.
Several years ago there was a website (Deagle.com) that posted a drastic decline in the U.S. population after 2025, IIRC it was ~75 million – down from the current ~330+ million.
When that news went “viral”, the info was scrubbed, but not before being saved in places. I will try and find that.
https://metallicman.com/the-shocking-2025-deagel-forecast-and-remote-viewing-the-future/
https://diamondz.substack.com/p/is-the-deagel-reports-2025-depopulation
“…In April 2021, the enigmatic intelligence firm Deagel.com quietly erased its staggering 2025 global depopulation forecast, a document forecasting a dramatic decline in populations of key countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany etc. The archived Deagel depopulation stats can be found HERE
This drastic prediction, which vanished from the public eye after garnering huge attention during the alleged COVID-19 pandemic, has since been shrouded in whispers and theories, only to resurface amidst startling new health data….”
All good points. I’ve been getting the feeling they want the middle class (which, if you had to choose only one feature of that class, it would be white people) replaced / out of America so they can have a fully compliant country that knows little or nothing about holding gov accountable.
As far as who is in control, it’s demonstrably Israel. There’s absolutely no one that comes close to calling the shots like Israel.
I’m undetermined on whether our military is submissive to Israel, or they’re just using them as a proxy for war, and Israel just gets whatever they want so the military can continue “bringing democracy” to anyone who dares to look at them the wrong way.
Israel had some of the highest vaccination rates on the planet. If they got the bad shots that many did, it may kill more Jews than Hitler did. I don’t think that Israel is behind the covid/vaccination scam/democide.
Or THEY got the REAL shots!!!! Just kidding, you have a totally valid point.
“All good points. I’ve been getting the feeling they want the middle class (which, if you had to choose only one feature of that class, it would be white people) replaced / out of America so they can have a fully compliant country that knows little or nothing about holding gov accountable.”
Nail on head. I call it the South America Model. It has ruled the continent for 400+ years. You have a tiny minority of Whites, with a sprinkle or Arabs and Asians, ruling over a huge population of mixed brown people. US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand have been fighting like hell to achieve this for decades.
South America happened organically, which is why it worked for so long. The entire West has been trying to duplicate it for as long as I’ve paid attention, and I’m 50. The idea is, bring in people from “disadvantaged” places, who have histories of quasi-anarchy or collectivist government-induced poverty. Give them a slightly higher standard of living and, voila! You have a docile, easily-ruled population. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to work for them.
Europe, is especially screwed. It’s demographics. Aside from some uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, South America was converted to Catholicism before the model even took effect. Europe, on the other hand is importing millions of people from the Middle-East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. These people are foreigners, many of whom have values that are totally incompatible with Western Civilization. In South America, is was a mix of INGIGENOUS people and colonists with skin in the game. Europe is simply importing foreign, fighting-age men into their countries, and those people (surprise!!) have no love or respect for their “benefactors” and will leech, rape and pillage the host until it’s theirs.
At least in the US, we’ve been lucky until recently, our imports were primarily Mexican. They’re Catholic, and while collectivist in culture, a huge chunk of them assimilate after a generation or two. Trump got elected just in time to turn the tide against the recent wave of immigrants, who will not assimilate. I hope he’s serious, because I have serious doubts about the Haitian, South America Model rejects (gang members and/or prisoners that were proven anti-social to the South America Model), and unvetted people from the Middle-East/North Africa that will fight to impose their will and way of life here, on our dime.
I looked in to the whistleblowers and it turns out they are misinformation artists. One of their claims was back when Covid first got here that the vax would cause aids – millions dead from aids by the end of 2021.
So that means the mil is using them as useful idiots, a limited hangout, or controlled opposition. They feed em some true stuff mixed with oulandish quackery so they can later dismiss all the things they said that were true by discrediting them by exposing the most outrageous claims.
Also, I found plenty of non msm sources for those whistleblowers but none of them were able to get around those whistleblowers being so corrupt.
I agree. If the focus is on the warfighters, a key statement he should have made to the people in uniform was “If you’re fat, this will not be tolerated. I expect everyone to get into compliance with our new weight and fitness standards. You have one year to lose the fat rolls and saddle bags.”
It is shocking how many overweight military members there are.
ignoring
“Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.”
–Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1813
Isn’t it strange seeing all of this unfold?
Interesting times.
It is. And I’m not sure in my heart or hearts why my skepticism knowing full well we’ve been lied to and stolen from. It’s a weird world. I keep my focus on the Lord, and know that all of this is His Will being done. But it’s still make me shake my head……..
So why did they withhold the information regarding the Blackhawk pilot who was killed in the recent AA incident at Dulles?
Wasn’t she a DEI hire?
Three days they kept this hush, hush and no one has ever admitted the truth.
This is not transparency and they conveniently let it slide on by.
She may be a sleeper cell in a death cult that requires putting false information out as bait.
DARPA wants to simulate how social media spreads info like wildfire
https://www.networkworld.com/article/959379/darpa-wants-to-simulate-how-social-media-spreads-info-like-wildfire.html
” we’ve been lied to and stolen from”
https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-vast-pharmaceutical-conspiracy-ae0
“…Despite this publication being about medicine, I’ve repeatedly focused on highlighting the work of public relations (PR), a massive invisible industry (e.g., 20 billion was spent on it in America last year) that continually shapes our perceptions of reality for its corporate and government clients. Briefly, PR is the incredibly refined science of manipulating the public, and essentially is what lies between propaganda and marketing….”
_______________
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/14-attorney-generals-demand-answers
“…We, the Attorneys General of Utah, Kansas, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, write to express our serious concerns with how individuals harmed by COVID-19 vaccines are being treated by the federal government. We seek answers to questions about the administration of the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
During the height of the pandemic, many Americans wanted “to do their part” by participating in vaccine trials or getting vaccinated. The federal government gave COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers more than $30 billion in taxpayer funds to develop and sell COVID-19 vaccines (1), 1 and spent billions more promoting these products to the public (2). The federal government both encouraged (3), and in many cases, mandated vaccination (4).
But when some of these individuals were injured by the COVID-19 vaccine, they found that the federal government favored manufacturers over their health. In addition to providing manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna billions of dollars (5), the federal government also gave these companies effective blanket immunity for harms caused by their products (6)….”
I have read the text of that statute, and I understand its clear intended meaning. It was never intended to create a “giant loophole,” except in the truly-extraordinary case of a true “medical emergency.” Which this clearly never was.
Congress must now take up the task of revising this statute to close the exploited holes.
The statute had the idea that “desperate times call for desperate measures.” But they simply did not consider, for example, that drug companies would suppress alternative therapies that did exist and were well-known, just to sell “gazillions of dollars’ worth” of their potions. And then, hide behind immunity.
I also believe that those “immunities” should be stripped. Let them face the music that they wrote.
“I also believe that those “immunities” should be stripped. Let them face the music that they wrote.”
IMO that includes reimbursing & compensating everyone from jabbed patients to physicians stripped of their license to practice medicine.
https://open.substack.com/pub/emeralddb3/p/three-years-ago-i-was-banned-around
“Three years ago this December, I posted a “proof of life” picture for everyone who had seen me “disappear” suddenly as the chief White House correspondent of a corporate news outlet. I was also banned from Twitter — supposedly because of COVID vaccine “misinformation” — on the same day.
Those were the darkest days of 2021.
The Biden regime wanted me silenced.
Big Pharma wanted me silenced.
Big Media wanted me silenced.
Big Tech wanted me silenced too…”
Amen.
The pieces are moving so fast it’s hard to keep up! Interesting times indeed!
More transparency and accountability! MIC and Pentagon heads are exploding!
He took “the defense industrial base” OFF THE TABLE.
How is that transparent or accountable for the MIC?
This little speech of his is not the gem that his TV talk show host persona attempts to portray.
Oh and he gave an out to the probies. Instead of doing the right thing and erasing Biden’s attempt to stuff the civil service the Democrat voters – DC votes 95% Democrat – he’s going to make it “performance based”.
The bureaucrats in the Dept will eat him alive if he keeps giving them softballs like that to hit out of the park. Every bureaucrat in DoD is quickly writing excellent reviews and calling everyone they hired “mission critical”.
I feel like our side still has no clue how evil our government is.
‘ He took “the defense industrial base” OFF THE TABLE.
How is that transparent or accountable for the MIC? ‘
The issue revealed by this is that turning the DOGE wolves loose on a government sector/organization is highly disruptive more than anything else, and the Trump admin doesn’t want to disrupt/degrade the MIC right now.
As it stands, DoD civilians and contractors are likely already impaired by uncertainty, anxiety, and degraded morale, due to DOGE actions skirting them.
Signs suggest that these are the main goals of DOGE firings, as government payroll is only 4% of total budget.
Everyone I talk to even the never Trumpers are happy with what Trump is doing to make America great again..
I am seeing people want revenge of congress for stealing our tax payers $$$ USAID was a real eye opener..
We all know why the Pentagon kept failing audits: the money was being stolen, massively.
“Ike Was Right.™”
I need a new bumper sticker to go next to my FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT magnet. This might be it.
as was mccarthy
Yes, he was. So was Whittaker Chambers.
Or, if there really is a reverse engineering UFO program it is going there. That is a huge if however. Or it could be other black programs.
I don’t know that, but then I actually went through the audit report. What I saw stick out was the management of working capital funds. I don’t think that is an issue of stolen instead more a problem of trying to make certain portions of the defense establishment work like a business. I was a (uniformed) manager at one of these activities. We negotiated with NavCompt annually to set our fully burdened man hour rate (at that time in the 90s, for engineering support it was around $53/hr). We provided material to the customer at our cost (no markup). As a senior manager I was 100% overhead. The Navy military pay account was supposed to be reimbursed from our earned overhead for my pay and benefits (for example, MPN gets charged an annual fee for military retirement pension). But I heard there were accounting issues in how that got done.
Yup. I Like Ike!
That is an awesome address. Simple. Straight to the point. Will foster confidence of the American people. Will foster confidence in people to enlist, go to the academies, and become officers. Will foster confidence in those already in the military. Will once again instill pride in those who already served.
I love the promise of transparency, and the warning to take what the media says with a “big grain of salt”.
If people realize they’re watching a Fox News talking head, his credibility will collapse.
This video will create cynicism. I shot four MAGA holes in it within 7 minutes.
– MIC “off the table”
– 8% cuts aren’t cuts, they’re “reinvestments” AYFKM? An $850B budget and they can’t make real cuts?!
– probie workers hired specifically to increase Democrat voter rolls won’t actually be fired. It’ll be “performance based” which is an easy get out of jail free card for the bureaucrats
– looked too much like a segment of Hannity or Maddow
And not one word to “the warfighter” to get their fat asses in shape and stop taking so many 4-day weekends.
Ok, I’m listening. So is Hegseth a good choice or is he going to turn on PDJT. Do you believe PDJT is really overhauling the military as per the goals stated?
Wouldn’t the words to the War fighters be best delivered from their immediate officers, and the overview morale speech be from the top leader?
What is your take? Is he a complete imposter? Or are you just giving “constructive” criticism?
“What is your take? Is he a complete imposter? Or are you just giving “
constructive”destructive criticism?There I fixed it for you.
Nothing is known until the FY26 DoD budget request comes out, though in March we also have the end of the FY25 CR and I assume passage of the omnibus appropriations which would give us an early look at things.
I went through many of these civilian hiring freezes, drawdowns, etc in post Vietnam and post Cold War peace dividends. Screwing around with the civilian workforce just mucks things up. You need to look at the programs. Look at things like Marine Littoral Regiments and Army Multi-Domain Task Forces. Right track or wrong track? Or the whole Space Force? How about Navy’s new frigate program? Or DDX? Per SecDef sounds like the only programs off the table are Columbia class SSBNs and Virginia class SSNs.
Second time I’ve read “probie” from you… please clarify what a probie is.
also, no idea what ayfkm is.
I think “probie” means a “probational” hire. That is, someone new. Trump has been cutting “probies” elsewhere as they are legally easier to fire – they have less contractual protection.
“AYFKM” = Any search on the web will tell you that this means, “Are you F**ing Kidding Me?”
In my experience most DoD “hires” are actually merit promotions or lateral transfers of folks with CS career status. Not too many just hired “off the street”, except for things like your GS-3 clerk/typist. In DoD we had something called the “stopper list”. If someone’s position in DoD was abolished they were placed on this list and had priority if applying for a new position. Also in DoD was a program to encourage spouses of active duty to enter CS with priority if the active duty member had to PCS to a different location. This was a “quality of life” thing to encourage retention. And in a formal RIF there are “bumping rights”. If a position is abolished the incumbent can “bump” a lower-seniority person out of their position.
Of course it is easier to remove probationary-status. I don’t think they have access to MSPB to appeal adverse actions, but I suspect if they are in a covered group they have EEO appeal rights, or in a bargaining unit FLRB rights. (It’s been a long time since I took my HR for line managers courses.)
“Probie” is a probationary employee. Term was used quite often in the original “NCIS” show.
Are You F****** Kidding Me
I don’t think DoD is hiring a lot of workers to increase Democrat voter rolls. When I was hiring engineers and techs, I didn’t interview them for their political leanings. We would per OPM rules bring in new engineers at GS-7. Hard to get folks when private industry was paying so much more. We could only promise them 7-9-11 ladder positions. Once they reached GS-11 that was pretty much it, unless they wanted to get into supervisory positions, which not that many engineers want.
As far as fat assed warfighters, I only have anecdotal evidence but the infantry I see here on Schofield Barracks don’t fit that description. Now OTOH, have no idea about Space Force “guardians”, if you can call them warfighters.
Nice pick President Trump.
I understand why he’s doing it, but I also have come to detest the realization that our leaders are paid actors playing a role. Pete leans into his Tucker Carlson impersonation without the creepy laugh. This will make people cynical.
It’s not all “cool stuff”. Off the table? THE DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE. Ok so that’s half or more of the budget.
The $50B “reinvestment”? Sounds like a scam. So they’re not reducing the budget. They’re just going to spend it elsewhere? Sure sounds like it to me.
And probie workers need to go. You’re not going to have enough data to say if they’re good or bad performers at this point. Biden stuffed the ranks of an already bloated workforce FOR THIS REASON. It’s an attempt to lock in hundreds of thousands of Democrat donors and voters, and to entrench #resistance fighters in the DoD. NEVER NEVER NEVER give bureaucrats a weapon they can use against you which is what giving them an out will do.
The best answer is to simply erase what Biden did. En masse. Stop giving people an “out” to declare everyone a top performer and everyone “mission critical”. That’s how we ended up with everyone being declared mission essential during the govt shutdowns and Covid lockdowns. It affected their wallets, so they just made everyone M.E..
I take the good with the bad, but you do have to listen to what he said a few times to hear what he’s leaving out and what he’s being somewhat evasive about.
My God man give it a break. We get the point you see our SecDev as a FOX talking head with vacuum for brains. OK we get the point but some of us who have served don’t agree.
I agree with what you alluded to in an earlier post. This didn’t come across like a speech or prepared remarks. It came across like a TV show monologue. It was just weird. A little opinion, a little persuasion, a few promises and feel-good jargon, but very little compelling facts or accomplishments.
And why is our SecDef even taking time to put out a video responding to media lies? Most Americans KNOW they lie, and the few who don’t will never see this video. Why pay them any attention? Ignore them. They should not be his concern anymore.
Maybe get back to serious work, and join Caroline in a Press Beating one day to take questions and deliver hard cold facts to dispute the lying media. Let others do the talking heads work.
I’m sure Hegseth’s heart is in the right place, but this video was just so odd. Maybe he’s just finding his sea legs, and I hope he’ll have the strength and professionalism not to let the lying media types get under his skin. He’s in a different world now. We shall see.
WOOHOO! YESSSS!!!
So glad to see this. I saw a short video once of soldiers being made to wear high heels so they would, supposedly, know what it’s like to be a woman. Maybe that was a joke??!! I bet our warfighters are happy about this. And I would be happy if every single under performing, DEI hire, etc., was fired posthaste. That’s what it’s like in the real world. Do your job, do it well, or you’re out.
How many 5 star generals do we have and what “programs” are they in charge of defending?
I tried asking AI. No luck.
I only know what (44) 4-star generals are defending.
“We need to take all that money, shut down the Pentagon to about three sides instead of five.”
https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1857210019458015255
5 stars? Last living one was Omar Bradley. As far as 4 stars, mostly it’s CJCS and the Vice, the service Chiefs and their Vices, and the Combatant Commanders. A couple of other outliers, like in Korea to maintain parity with their Korean counterpart or Commander of Naval Nuclear Power program, who also is an Asst Dept of Energy Sec per the Atomic Energy Act.
There have been nine 5-star generals/admirals in the history of the U.S. For the Army: Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall. For the Navy: William Halsey, Ernest King, William Leahy and Chester Nimitz. Henry Arnold was the only 5 – star officer that held that rank in two services: the Army Air Force and the Air Force. Of interest, there have been a few officers that held the now defunct ranks of General of the Army of the U.S./Admiral of the Navy of the U.S.: Army – George Washington (awarded posthumosly), Ulysses Grant, William Sherman, Phillip Sheridan and John Pershing. Navy – George Dewey.
How many “biodefense weapon labs” are there? I hope Hegseth shutters them immediately are we go through each lab and see what they were doing and who was connected with them!
Best pick for Sec. Def.! 🥰
Never in my life did I expect to see such straight up transparency from the DoD. Keep up the good work ya’ll and God Bless this nation, from an old Navy vet.
‘ Never in my life did I expect to see such straight up transparency from the DoD.’
Ever hear the expression, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”?
Time will tell. Do you have a better idea? Some here seem to think “anyone but Hegseth”! I liked what I heard.
Lotsa doom on this thread.
Battered Conservative Syndrome, prob’ly. Meanwhile, infantry vet Hegseth knows what it means to be a point-man. So, let’s please resist the urge to nitpick the point-man, as he leads us and DOGE through the institutional minefields and media ambushes, yet to be discovered.
Thank you, God, for these people.
I worry about how they will evaluate “performance.” Given how long all of the personnel policies have been politicized, how many “top performers” are crap and how many crap performers are actually good?
I think it’s obvious anyone who had been working TWO jobs (one “work from home government” and the other something else AT THE SAME TIME) should be the first to go. Double dipping just shows you’re not focused on your primary occupation. I hope they SAVED a lot of money because their budgets will look different now!
I hope they get this stuff right. It’s really important.
Evaluating performance in “mind work” occupations is subjective, famously eluding metrics.
This has been the focus of countless “performance management” systems, supposedly to make it objective, reasonable, and measurable, but in reality to overdrive the hell out of employees.
Musk and his ilk are very familiar with this. Also with the game of RIFs used to get rid of people who cannot take long-term overdriving, while
striking fear in themotivating remaining employees so they will work even harder and longer hours without overtime pay. Until they burn out to be casually tossed out and replaced, as expendable resources. (Hence the name “Human Resources”.)The Japanese have a term for “death by overwork”: Karoshi. (Think about THAT, driving your nice Japanese-made car.)
So now, the Trump team is bringing all this to government. The problem is that most of what makes government so inefficient is the over-complicated bureaucratic red tape it is completely bound up with – the individual employees can’t do anything about this. It will take top-down leadership to cut down the red tape.
Deming:
“10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for… new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.”
“11b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.”
https://deming.org/explore/fourteen-points/
It always comes down to leadership, but in America most leadership wants to shirk this responsibility, to delegate to lower levels – because that way they avoid work and accountability.
That sounds like a problem – unless you are in leadership, in which case it sounds great, doesn’t it?
Well, there was always the question of “merit pay” introduced during Carter admin. We tended to distribute it out widely at the end of the FY, at least the bonuses. For actual top performers, we liked to to award QSIs (quality step increase — the gift that keeps on giving).
The mission of the US Army is to destroy the enemies of the United States by means of fire and maneuver. The Army has 450K active duty Soldiers. There are 31 Brigade Combat teams of 4400 soldiers for 136K total in units directly responsible for the core mission. One out of three.
50 active duty Brigade Combat Teams are considered the minimum required to meet contingencies. That would mean 220k in BCTs. A hard look at force distribution might be in order.
You need to do some home work on what it takes to deploy and sustain a GROUND COMBAT Force in an OFF-SHORE Hostile theater of operations.
Even given all the modern advances in communications, transportation and logistics “tools” … a highly aggressive assumption of 5:1 (Logistics Infrastructure : to Fighting Forces in Contact) ratio is needed. Then there is a “reserve” Fighting Force required to support rotation and replacements for the forces in Contact.
Simplistic numbers assessments like your are childish at best.
There is cost to consider plus, there is a need for a true National Strategy assessment because your 50 BCT number is based on a 2-Major Theater assumption from the COLD WAR era, 50 years ago…when the actual number of ACTIVE BCT’s required was 80+.
The ARFORGEN assessment needs to be totally redone AFTER a real national strategy is assessment is completed that reflects the REAL current world environment … then the number of BCT’s with support assets, combat ships, combat planes, supporting force structure, et al … needed can be assessed.
Finally, DoD needs to refuse to allow it’s budget to be used as a piggy bank to fund the cause of the day in Congress …. like the Ukraine, Haiti, COVID, Immigration Payments et al. the reprogramming of DoD Budget is why we see…
VA Hospital Maintenance Deferred
Navy Ship … Overhaul and Yard Periods Deferred
Military Aircraft Refits Deferred
Army mess halls with NO food
Military Base housing maintenance Deferred
Military Procurement projects slowed..increasing program cost.
ALL the above and more resulting in a force with low readiness and low moral as well as high accident incident rates.
But … the RE-ELECTION FUNDS of Politicians and thereby their pocket books swell with kick backs from NGO’s receiving the reprogrammed money.
We let tens of thousands of young chinese males, almost certainly large trained military cadres formed into covert units, into the United States over the last 4 years. Our need for domestic force protection is MUCH higher than it has beencat any time sincecthe civil war.
Always amused when the south side of a northbound horse says “you need to”. Step one is always read the problem statement, something you seemed to have missed. If you don’t think there is misdirected manpower in the Army you are not paying attention.
I have found that the inane ramblings of pinot noir are infantile, at best.
So we don’t need Sustainment Brigades, Air / Missile Defense Commands, Engineer/Signal Brigades, Combat Aviation Brigades? Got it.
Nobody said that. Try to keep up.
Biggest problem he will have, based on what he said here is, ‘who the best performers are’.
I’ve been in, and worked with and for, the Navy for over 37 years. Pete will have to independently assess organizations anew to identify the actual producers. The existing performance reviews and fitreps are completely corrupted by PC and careerism by seniors. Example, some years ago the CO of ‘StrikeU’ in Fallon had recently been the strike lead for Operation Praying Mantis. In the midst of a presentation he reflected that when he knew it was for real, they would be conducting a real strike on Iranian targets, he immediately knew who who he would rely on to create the plan and lead the elements. He then said, ‘and you know, that didn’t resemble their breakout in Fitness Reports’.
Similarly, within the civilian work force there are the show dogs competing for attention and advancement, and the irreplaceable few who actually know the job. The latter are likely impossible to identify via existing performance reviews.
DOD is the Augean Stable of all time. Good luck and God speed Secretary Hegseth!
Clue – start by returning the Navy to the ship/Admiral ratio of WW2 (1) and eliminate SESs.
Maybe Hercules, i.e., Trump should divert the Potomac thru D.C., and wash it away.
Nice visual.
In my little part of the navy world, I would get rid of the PEO organization and go back to something more like the old BuShips/BuEng/BuOrd with experienced officer specialists in charge of programs rather than today’s collection of unrestrained line officers.
Once the income tax is abolished, I think it would be a really great idea for people to be able to voluntarily contribute to soldiers, bases, etc. A lot of churches and individuals “adopt a soldier.” What would it be like if people could regionally opt in to support a particular base? Or go online to contribute to a certain branch? I saw an article where over 150 million meant for soldier’s meals on base was spent elsewhere. Wouldn’t it be cool if the soldiers could be fed [off base prob necessary] by local churches and civic groups? My church would do it in a heart beat and it would definitely be a meal worth having
OK except the 3rd Amendment might come into play here.
Can you imagine former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin putting out a video like that? Just spectacular. Heads are going to roll “from top to bottom”, starting with the Joint Chiefs promoted by Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin.
Austin needs to lawyer-up.
That “$35 Trillion accounting black hole” at the DOD may be due to FASAB 56.
https://missingmoney.solari.com/fasab-standard-56-and-the-authority-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence-to-waive-sec-financial-reporting/
How does that affect how DOGE does its job? And what clarity will the public get from all of this as a result of it?
I am so impressed! I’m beginning to feel very patriotic again.
I would bet that Biden talked to Lloyd Austin twice during his term. That was I didn’t know that you were in the hospital and the second time was I didn’t know you were out of the hospital.
Yep, “the black guy”.
I served for nearly 23 years and never had a more direct, and pragmatic Sec Def focused on the core mission of our military. I still remain close to the troops, and the cultural rot of DEI and CRT had done immense damage to this mission. I existed in a world of merit for most of my career, interrupted by relaxed standards and dubious promotions towards then end.
I have all the confidence in the world that Sec Def Hegseth will turn that ship around and return our fighting forces to their rightful place as leaders in professionalism, technical and tactical proficiency and lethality. LET’S GO!!!
It is gloriously refreshing to hear SecDef Hegseth speak about tried and true traditional American values in the context of a red-blooded American military focused solely on being 100% merit-based – the absolute best at its mission regardless of its racial & physical makeup.
this is a hard dose of reality. I hope the powers that be understand this.
the M.I.C. never thought anything of it until 1978. I was part of a team testing the Carl Gustaf 84mm rocket launcher.
it was hands down, better than ANYTHING we had at that time. many different rounds could be fired out of it too.
and you could re-cock the weapon to fire it again if you had a iffy primer.
iron sights to back up the optical sight. it was almost grunt proof ! 5 general officers on “show day” 3 army ones and 2 Marine generals. the army guys didn’t even look at it. the Marine generals? got down in the dirt and fired it with us
asked a lot of questions and took NOTES ? even. did the army get it? no. we got the Dragon system. a one shot deal.
never fired it or trained with it myself. but from what I was told by others who did. it was a over priced POS.
so, fast forward to 2004 or so. watching the “news’ and I see some troops using the Carl G in the sandbox. and they go on about how great it is for the mission. and we could have had it back then by 1980 easy. I sure it cost a lot less than the Dragon system did. stuff like that makes a person think who got paid off to buy the Dragon ?
so, trust is something I lost a long time ago with the army. he got a massive job cleaning up that mess in what we used to call the “five sided funny farm”
Color me purple and howl at the moon,, sounds like there ain’t gonna be no search for fraud,,,, and the beat goes on
Love this. Thank you President Trump and Secretary Hegseth.
Sharpen teeth. Kick tail.