In recent years I have learned that the bigger Democrats’ hissy fits, the more likely the person or policy or legislation is an excellent choice! Nominating two-time Bronze Star recipient Pete Hegseth to replace that Woke jackass, Lloyd Austin, as Secretary of Defense, is a stroke of sheer genius. Also, it gave Americans who live in reality another chance to watch Democrats scream & holler.
HEGSETH, A RENAISSANCE MAN
Pete Hegseth has written five books, the latest being War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, published this year.^ I call him a renaissance man because his interests are varied. His other four books are: 2016’s In the Arena: Good Citizens, a Great Republic, and How One Speech Can Reinvigorate America, 2020’s American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, 2020’s Modern Warriors: Real Stories from Real Heroes, and 2022’s Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation.
STELLAR MILITARY CAREER
Peter Brian Hegseth, age 44, was born and raised in Minnesota. After graduating from Princeton in 2003,* Hegseth joined Bear Stearns as an equity capital markets analyst and also received a commission as an infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard.
The following year, Hegseth resigned his job with Bear Stearns when his unit was deployed to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. There, he served as an infantry platoon leader and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Shortly after returning from Cuba, Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra, where he served first as an infantry platoon leader and later as Civil–Military Operations Officer.
Hegseth returned to active service as a captain in 2012 and shortly afterwards was sent to Afghanistan with the Minnesota National Guard, working as a counterinsurgency instructor in the capital Kabul. He was thrice deployed to Iraq & Afghanistan as a platoon leader and Civil-Military Operations Officer. During this time, he was awarded two Bronze Stars, a Combat Infantryman Badge, and a second Army Commendation Medal.
In 2014, Hegseth was promoted to the rank of major and left active duty to be assigned to the Army Individual Ready Reserve, and in 2019, he rejoined the National Guard after five years in the Army Individual Ready Reserve.
POLITICIZING THE MILITARY
General Mark Milley was Trump’s disastrous Joint Chief of Staff. He was so Woke, so anti-free speech, so hellbent on weakening America’s military that the Biden Regime kept him on. With Secretary Austin’s permission, he pushed out soldiers who reached their rank via merit and replaced them with people who represent certain “identities.” China noticed and Russia noticed. THAT is why they have been so aggressive these last three plus years.
In 2020, Hegseth volunteered as one of the up-to-25,000 National Guard troops authorized by the Pentagon to be put on active duty to protect the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. Because they were known conservatives, 12 soldiers were called extremists, including Hegseth, and removed from that mission.^^ Hegseth attributed his removal from the assignment to a “Jerusalem Cross tattoo, which is just a Christian symbol.” This writer wonders how much the asinine extremist designation had to do with his job as political commentator on Fox News which began in 2014 and his weekend co-hosting job on Fox & Friends from 2017 to 2024. Under this corrupt regime, independent thought is not allowed.
This shows how much military brass had turned into political hacks and against their own men during the 18 years Hegseth served our nation in uniform. He chose to leave active duty as a result of this. His last day in uniform was March 31, 2021. In January 2024, he officially separated from the National Guard’s Individual Ready Reserve.
Can a Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth return America’s military to its former glory and make us feared and respected again on the world stage?
The MAGA Team Has Two Years To Clean Up The Mess Left By Obama And Biden
^The War on Warriors uncovers the deep roots of our dysfunction—a society that has forgotten the men who take risks, cut through red tape, and get their hands dirty. We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether.
Combining his own war experiences, tales of outrage, and an incisive look at how the chain of command got so kinked, this book is the key to saving our warriors—and winning future wars. The War on Warriors must be won by the good guys, because when the shooting really starts, they’re the only ones who can save us.
*Hegseth also received a Masters of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2013.
^^Pete Hegseth joined the Army to fight extremists. Then that same Army called him one. The military Pete joined twenty years ago was fiercely focused on lethality, competency, and color blindness. Today our brass are following the rest of our country off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness. Americans with common sense are fighting this on many fronts, but if we can’t save the meritocracy of our military, we’re definitely going to lose everywhere else.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited.
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