“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.

  • motor_spirit@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    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

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    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.

    • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      2 hours ago

      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.

      • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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        37 minutes ago

        Hoping, yes. Definitely not expecting, but hoping.

        We don’t need them to not give a fuck, we need them to do their job.

  • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    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?

    • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      5 hours ago

      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.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Trump is also talking about an “invasion from within.” This is “obey when we tell you to kill American civilians.”

    • Doorbook@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Are they really American or terrorist Taliban who got to the land when Biden and Obama were in office?

      Are they really American if they speak Spanish and part of the drug cartel?

      Are they really American if they are from the middle east and terrorist Muslim?

      Are they really American if they are black and part of hood gangs?

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    “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”

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    6 hours ago

    Why do I feel like Hegseth masturbated to Master Chief and Cortana posters as a teen?

    • Eldritch@piefed.world
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      4 hours ago

      I want to believe. But we’ve ignored this for over 100 years. We’ve gotten good at it.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    5 hours ago

    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.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      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.

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        4 hours ago

        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.

        https://youtu.be/qNwJGum3N8E

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        I really, really hope your experience is indicative of a larger pattern of thought. Thanks for sharing it.

    • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      5 hours ago

      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.

      • PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au
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        5 hours ago

        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.

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    6 hours ago

    I’ve intentionally been screaming into a pillow more these days but I thought this was Thursday? Did they move it up?

  • _druid@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    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!