‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/20/lost-us-generals-senior-officers-say-trust-hegseth-evaporated/

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has lost the trust and respect of some top military commanders, with his public “grandstanding” widely seen as unprofessional and the personnel moves made by the former cable TV host leading to an unprecedented and dangerous exodus of talent from the Pentagon, said current senior military officers and current and former Defense Department officials.

Numerous high-ranking officers painted Mr. Hegseth’s Sept. 30 speech to hundreds of generals and admirals gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia as a turning point in how his leadership style, attitude and overall competency are viewed in the upper echelons of the U.S. armed forces.

“It was a massive waste of time. … If he ever had us, he lost us,” one current Army general told The Washington Times.

The Quantico speech — described by other sources as “embarrassing” and theatrical to a degree that “is below our institution” — seemed to crystallize beliefs about Mr. Hegseth that had taken root among some senior officers, including the view that the secretary operates with a junior officer’s mentality that has led him to micromanage policies about issues such as military facial hair standards and press access to the Pentagon, sometimes at the expense of the much broader portfolio of a typical defense secretary.

“Mainly what I see from him are not serious things,” a current senior officer said. “It’s, ’Why did this service member tweet this?’ Or internal politics and drama. That’s mostly what I see.”

Mr. Hegseth clearly does not care about such criticism. At Quantico, he told any officer who disagreed with his priorities and his laserlike focus on a return to what he calls the military’s “warrior ethos” to resign.

EXCERPT

This is the sound of Hegseth brining a bunch of loose cannon prima donnas to heel and the breaking up of fiefdoms inside DoD.

These whispering flag officers seem oblivious to the fact that NOBODY outside their peer groups respect THEM, and that Hegseth seems to command the respect of the enlisted troops.  Totally tin-earred.

[mountaineer]

This is the sound of Hegseth brining a bunch of loose cannon prima donnas to heel and the breaking up of fiefdoms inside DoD.
These whispering flag officers seem oblivious to the fact that NOBODY outside their peer groups respect THEM, and that Hegseth seems to command the respect of the enlisted troops.  Totally tin-earred.

Definitely the impression I've gotten. The pampered perfumed princes bedecked with stars, ribbons and medals are feeling a little threatened.

[Wingnut]

Armchair Generals.  We more Generals like Grant and less Miley's.

[catfish1957]

Our General ranks probably need to be gutted of pathogenic prima donnas

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Our General ranks probably need to be gutted of pathogenic prima donnas

[rustynail]

Trust and Respect.  Can't give it?  Get out.

[Cyber Liberty]

These unnamed Generals need to man up and resign rather than throwing brickbats from behind reporters.

[catfish1957]

These unnamed Generals need to man up and resign rather than throwing brickbats from behind reporters.

For a line of work that exemplifies courage, bravery, and honor.......    Spitballing Generals hiding under the moniker of "unnamed", is everything but.

[240B]

Army Captain Urges Military To Defy Trump’s Orders In Stunning Clip

Trending Politics News
October 21, 2025

An Army captain is under fire after posting videos in uniform urging troops to disobey orders from President Trump — a stunning act that critics say crosses the line into outright insubordination.

In a clip posted a few weeks ago, Captain Dylan Blaha told active-duty personnel to “ignore orders” coming from Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, blasting their directives as “authoritarian” and “fascist.” He invoked the Posse Comitatus Act in a shaky attempt to justify defying the commander-in-chief.

But Blaha’s rant has triggered outrage across the military community — and could land him in serious trouble. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), service members are strictly prohibited from engaging in political advocacy while in uniform, especially when it could be perceived as resisting lawful commands from superiors or the President himself.

https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/new-army-captain-urges-military-to-defy-trumps-orders-in-stunning-clip-jrupp/

He just ended his career. He has resigned without resigning. It is one thing if HE feels that way. It is a completely different thing for him to address the entire military in his capacity within the military to openly urge them to disobey any orders according to HIS particular opinion.

[libertybele]

I hope he is punished. With me not being military will the Posse Comitatus Act save his hide?

[Timber Rattler]

Career self-immolation, plus a future stint in Fort Leavenworth.

[libertybele]

Career self-immolation, plus a future stint in Fort Leavenworth.

Future stint in Ft. Leavenworth sounds great!

[GtHawk]

I hope he is punished. With me not being military will the Posse Comitatus Act save his hide?

Punished? Yeah something dreadful like a job at cnn or pmsnbc…..being relegated to obscurity, then he can spend the rest of his life looking back on his ten minutes of fame.

[Wingnut]

Punished? Yeah something dreadful like a job at cnn or pmsnbc…..being relegated to obscurity, then he can spend the rest of his life looking back on his ten minutes of fame.

Transfer him to Thule Air Base, Pituffik, Greenland.  He can cool his heels till he times out.

[mountaineer]

Sean Davis
@seanmdav
They were fine spending the last 20+ years losing wars, but having to do pull-ups and not be fat was apparently their red line. Interesting.
2:55 PM · Oct 21, 2025

Jeff Menard
@JeffMenard1989
These generals were silent when billions of dollars worth of military vehicles and weapons were abandoned for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
3:19 PM · Oct 21, 2025

[Fishrrman]

mountaineer wrote:
"The pampered perfumed princes bedecked with stars, ribbons and medals are feeling a little threatened."

Replace them.
Usher them out on pension, or whatever.
Bring in new blood that's willing to work under the new atmosphere...

[Smokin Joe]

I don't see limiting press access to the Pentagon as something unimportant.

That place has been leaking like a screen door on a submarine.

[mountaineer]

Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
So we today we have generals and admirals slithering to the press anonymously complaining about SecWar reading them the riot act over their incompetence and organizational failures.

Let me explain why I take this so very, VERY personally.

I served under Bill Clinton.  I HATED him as my Commander-in-Chief and thought his poor leadership and social engineering such as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and placing women in high-G combat aircraft were destroying our military.

But all of his orders were lawful, and I followed my oath to the letter.  He was my Commander-in-Chief and I respected the fact that the American people had selected him for that role.  You never heard me utter a single peep against him, neither publicly nor in private.  I honored my oath.

Pretty much every officer I knew felt and acted the same way.

Even though I retired just before Obama took office, I know for certain that the exact same thing happened with the officers who served under him. 

We did our jobs, honored our oaths, showed the respect the office deserved, and never engaged in the sort of anonymous public insubordination that we see now.

We did the same for the rest of our chain of command, even when incompetents such as Les Aspin and Leon Panetta were serving as SecDef.

That is NOT what is happening now.

The fact that these political Perfumed Prince snakes in the grass wearing stars today even exist affirms something that so many have long suspected--that the Obama/Biden years infected our senior military ranks with men and women not emotionally or ethically qualified for such high rank.

The purge of these oathbreakers cannot come soon enough.
4:18 PM · Oct 21, 2025

[Cyber Liberty]

Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
So we today we have generals and admirals slithering to the press anonymously complaining about SecWar reading them the riot act over their incompetence and organizational failures.

Let me explain why I take this so very, VERY personally.

I served under Bill Clinton.  I HATED him as my Commander-in-Chief and thought his poor leadership and social engineering such as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and placing women in high-G combat aircraft were destroying our military.

But all of his orders were lawful, and I followed my oath to the letter.  He was my Commander-in-Chief and I respected the fact that the American people had selected him for that role.  You never heard me utter a single peep against him, neither publicly nor in private.  I honored my oath.

Pretty much every officer I knew felt and acted the same way.

Even though I retired just before Obama took office, I know for certain that the exact same thing happened with the officers who served under him. 

We did our jobs, honored our oaths, showed the respect the office deserved, and never engaged in the sort of anonymous public insubordination that we see now.

We did the same for the rest of our chain of command, even when incompetents such as Les Aspin and Leon Panetta were serving as SecDef.

That is NOT what is happening now.

The fact that these political Perfumed Prince snakes in the grass wearing stars today even exist affirms something that so many have long suspected--that the Obama/Biden years infected our senior military ranks with men and women not emotionally or ethically qualified for such high rank.

The purge of these oathbreakers cannot come soon enough.
4:18 PM · Oct 21, 2025

I follow CP, and I agree with him 100%.

[Smokin Joe]

mountaineer wrote:
"The pampered perfumed princes bedecked with stars, ribbons and medals are feeling a little threatened."

Replace them.
Usher them out on pension, or whatever.
Bring in new blood that's willing to work under the new atmosphere...

Not just that but willing to embrace and write new doctrine for the use of drones in warfare, because that will be a large part of the future, not the big defense contracts with interminable development times and golden parachutes written in.

In just a few years, Ukraine has made remarkable advancements in asymmetrical warfare using drones, and we'd do well to become more agile in our defense/offensive posture going forward.

[mountaineer]

Fat Loser Generals Can Get Bent
Kurt Schlichter
Oct 24, 2025

I was one of those many, many retired officers who thought it was great when Pete Hegseth walked in and told an assembly of hundreds of generals and admirals that they suck and are fat, and they needed to unsuck and get unfat. Well, he was a little more polite than that, but not much. Of course, when their subordinates screw up in a massive way like these generals and admirals have over the last three decades, these generals and admirals would not have sugarcoated it. There would be no talk of feelings, no hugging. They would nuke their delinquent subordinates until they glowed. Some of the flag officers— the ones with a future in a military devoted to winning wars— appreciated this refreshing dose of toxic masculinity, but far too many of them channeled Margaret Dumont and are now scrambling to the press like little weasels to leak the anonymous equivalent of, “Oh, well, I never!”  ...

The Washington Times got the scoop from these feminine cowards who donned the camouflage of anonymity to slag their boss instead of pulling their stars from their epaulets and slamming them on his desk. Nobody resigns anymore; they just gossip and talk smack behind people’s backs. It’s like Mean Girls with a camo color palette: The aggression is passive, and these generals and admirals have won the same number of wars as Regina, Karen, and Gretchen.   ...

Oh, and this “junior officer mentality” business—talk about revealing. Of course, Pete Hegseth was a major, a field-grade officer, which is not a junior officer, but these three- and four-star generals aren’t really connected to actual soldiers. Nor are they connected to basic concepts like discipline, which I guess is now to be disregarded as merely something junior officers are concerned with.

No.

Discipline is the foundation of everything the military does. We have standards, including things like no facial hair and not having your belly pouring over your belt like Niagara Falls, for a reason. An undisciplined force is a force that will fail in battle, but battle is not what these generals and admirals are concerned about.  ...

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2025/10/24/fat-loser-generals-can-get-bent-n2665400

[Cyber Liberty]

Schlichter is correct, as usual!