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Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Madison Burgess
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Donald Trump's Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, delved into a blistering rant as he addressed senior military leaders at a gathering today.
Hundreds of military leaders, including top generals and admirals, have gathered from all over the world for the event today (Tuesday, 30 September), which is taking place at Marine Corps Base Quantico, a 55,000-acre facility in Virginia.
They were summoned with little notice by Defence Secretary Hegseth, and until now, no one knew what the mysterious meeting would be about.
US President Donald Trump told NBC News in an interview on Sunday (28 September) that they would be 'talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things'.
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However, the speech came with an eerie warning, as Hegseth told attendees that America's enemies would 'FAFO', which stands for 'f**k around and find out', as per MailOnline.
He told the crowd: "‘From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: war fighting, preparing for war and preparing to win."
Thankfully, he went on to clarify that the US doesn't want war, sticking to their ‘strength through peace’ motto.
Hegseth also went into detail about a list of ten new directives for troops, warning them that they have to be 'fit and trained or they're out'.
The Secretary of War told attendees: "At every level, either you can meet the standard, either you can do the job, either you are disciplined, fit and trained, or you are out.
"And that's why today at my direction, and this is the first of ten Department of War directives, that are arriving at your commands as we speak and in your inbox."
He said: "Today at my direction, each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS, for every designated combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only.
"Today at my direction, we are also adding a combat field test, for combat arms units that must be executable in any environment, at any time, and with equipment."
He compared the upcoming tests to the Army Expert Physical Fitness Assessment and the Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test.
During his bizarre rant, he went on to say that it's 'tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops'.
The military boss added that it's also not acceptable to see 'fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon, and leading commands around the country and the world,' branding it as a 'bad look'.
And as if that wasn't enough, he also disclosed that the physical standards need to be gender neutral.
"I'm also directing that warfighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at a gender neutral age-normed male standard scored above 70%," he said.
Hegseth added: "This is not about preventing women from serving. We very much value the impact of female troops.
"Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world. But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral.”
He bluntly said: “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.
"That is not the intent, but it could be the result, so be it ... It will also mean that we mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death."