“To our enemies: FAFO,” Hegseth said, using an acronym that translates to “fuck around and find out.”
Hegseth ordered hundreds of U.S. military officials around the globe to meet him at a spontaneous assembly in Virginia, keeping the details of the gathering extremely hush-hush.
The message shocked members of the U.S. military, who could not recall another instance in which a defense secretary summoned so many commanders for a sudden in-person meeting—especially without a clear rationale. Some warned that having so many integral military leaders in one place could pose a national security risk.
As it turns out, the rationale was to rail against the culture wars. Hegseth, pacing back and forth onstage, also leveraged his time in front of America’s military to criticize “woke” ideology. He ordered the armed forces to reset its combat requirements to the “highest male standard only,” a decision that would effectively force women out of the military.
“If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is,” Hegseth said.
The Pentagon chief also nixed medical beard waivers, a decision that will disproportionately affect Black service members due to the curl pattern of the hair on their face.
The shit that these physically and mentally unfit people spout and cling to is so hilarious. Who the fuck can take seriously a drunk racist who can’t be trusted with messaging apps… who was appointed by a career pedo-felon in a vegetative state?
“Warrior ethos” lmao
Aaaand once again a huge gathering of people who are oath-bound to defend the constitution from domestic threats just sat and listened to a domestic threat prancing about a stage, adding to a mountain of failures in their duty to this country.
Cowards and traitors.
Lmao did we watch the same “rally”?
I’m not sure if you were hoping to see a mutiny/uprising? But compare what we did see to a Bush rally circa late 2001. The lack of fucks to give from that audience was palpable.
Look at that sea of “woke” lmao
That’s a horrifying amount of stripes and stars in one picture.
Yes, that age-old strategy of getting rid people regardless of competence at their job or importance to the mission that worked so well for the Germans in WWII. What could possibly go wrong?
That always works so well in every organization.
If you’re not with us (us being a handful of individuals holding zero experience but screeching orders down the chain of command), you’re against us, regardless of what you bring to the table.
Easily replaceable bc we’re the hottest country and everybody wants to join up with our military. A year ago we were dead, and now we’re the hottest country, that’s what Putin told me. Then he sent a bunch of drones into Ukraine, but that’s just one of those things.
Trump is also talking about an “invasion from within.” This is “obey when we tell you to kill American civilians.”
It’s always projection. I’m almost bored of saying it.
Almost
Called it! Knew they were going to go against women in the military.
They’re going after black men too. The beard waiver thing is a big deal as well.
Not challenging the hair thing, but I honestly am not sure what that is about. Black/curly beard hair has issues when shaved?
An older article about it: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2025/09/15/troops-with-medical-shaving-waivers-to-face-separation-hegseth-says/
In March, the Marine Corps ordered Marines diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, which leads to unwanted bumps and painful ingrown hair from frequent shaving, to undergo medical reevaluation within 90 days to determine whether they still required a waiver.
That administrative message outlined a phased treatment plan for Marines affected by the condition, with the ultimate goal of “returning service members to grooming standards and ensuring maximum warfighting readiness.”
About 60% of Black men are affected by the condition, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.
Thank you for that info
Yeah. Apparently they have worse issues with breaking out due to shaving.
And fat men from what I heard. He wants manly men.
With no beards! That parts important - Hegseth likes his manly men to be smooth.
The shaving waiver thing is actually about wanting white guys and removing black ones.
To be fair, pick a thing and call it. This administration is likely to destroy it haha
“The Department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos.”
“If we can’t control everything about you then you might not fight for us when we tell you to do crimes”
Why do I feel like Hegseth masturbated to Master Chief and Cortana posters as a teen?
Hey there’s nothing wrong with that!
as a teen?5 mins before taking stage?He did the honorable thing. Can you imagine if he’d gone out there fully loaded? What a mess.
I wonder how many of our higher military think this is what’s needed and appropriate, and how many were thinking “wtf?” I hope many were the latter, and I hope they remember that when called to make a choice of orders to follow vs. the Constitution.
The day after Trump was elected, I was in the Pentagon and it was like a funeral inside. The day before the election, high ranking military officers were openly mocking Trump (even 2 star generals). Maybe because I’m involved in Air Force/Space Force vs Army/Navy/Marines, but every general I’ve ever met dedicates their lives to the people below them as opposed to their president at the time. When a president comes along and threatens those people, it isn’t taken lightly. Again, maybe it is specific to the forces that I work with, or maybe that I work on the acquisition side and not the boots on the ground side, but my impression is that even the very religious and conservative leaders are not happy with how the people they see as their family are being treated.
I really, really hope your experience is indicative of a larger pattern of thought. Thanks for sharing it.
I am not military, but somehow manage to interact with a lot of veterans. This has been my impression as well, at least among the officers. The higher up the leadership chain, the more they recognize and despise that the military is being used to push politics rather than actually being a functional organization.
There’s a great YouTube video of Adm. Gilday defending a non-binary officer in a Senate hearing. The admiral recognizes that running a large, functioning military requires integrating people of all types, and that building camaraderie can be as important as anything else. We can only hope there are enough people like him toward the top to prevent the military from being thoroughly abused.
I would guess based on the smattering of confused applause, lack of rambunctious cheering, and the quickness they cut away that live feed after Trump demonstrated what applause is supposed to look like and walked off stage, it’s a majority of the latter.
But I still wouldn’t bet on that being any guarantee the constitution will be upheld above the leader’s will.
Hegseth thinks he has Trump’s plot armor. He doesn’t. And, he’s young enough that he probably won’t croak before the shit hits the fan in true cascading fuck-up fashion. FAFO is right.
Also, I share your uncertainty about whether the constitution will be upheld, but this whole clown show just ticked up the probability by a measurable amount.
These nazis are in for a rude awakening.
The US is not united like Germany was before World War 2.
I want to believe. But we’ve ignored this for over 100 years. We’ve gotten good at it.
USA predicts with accuracy our own reckoning.
I’ve intentionally been screaming into a pillow more these days but I thought this was Thursday? Did they move it up?
No it was today.
You’ve still got time if you want to hear Trump rambling endlessly. Here is a Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ZYK8cxFh8
After Hegs is done saying that little saying that he was just so proud to say, as surprising as it is, you can clearly hear an eastern screech-owl!
