Authored by Mike Fredenburg via The Epoch Times,
Secretary of War Hegseth's Sept. 30 State of the Force speech was refreshingly blunt, but it was also extremely informative. On the blunt side of things, Hegseth let the sergeants, chiefs, and junior officers know that the U.S. military was done with the woke mindset that had been destroying its fighting power:
"We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that: no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops."
He framed last year's historic speech as a break from "the Defense Department of old" and "liberation day [from the DEI/woke mindset]," stating that the War Department's mission was "war fighting. Preparing to fight and preparing to win, unrelenting, unapologetic, and uncompromising in that single pursuit."
The Golden Rule
Encouragingly, just as he did a year ago in his Sept. 30, 2025, speech to generals and admirals, he stated civilian and military leadership were morally obligated to follow the Golden Rule:
"Do unto your unit as you would have done unto your own child's unit. Would you want them serving in a unit where standards were lowered to meet quotas? Or a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance, or war fighting? The answer is not just no. The answer is hell no."
But along with his emphasis on rooting out
