The Time for Duty, Honor, Country is now: Our Country Needs a Pete Hegseth to Lead the Department of Defense
In his final speech in 1962, Five-Star General of Armies Douglas MacArthur spoke to an assembled audience of cadets, active officers, and senior civilians about the necessity of having a military that was prepared to defend the republic, detached from the politics of the day, and who lived by the credo words “Duty, Honor, Country.” General MacArthur, who served and led in the Army for over 50 years, issued a somber warning that rings true to this day:
These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country. You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the Nation’s destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.
MacArthur was telling the cadets who would soon become officers that their charge was to defend the country, not to be entangled in the debates of the day. He reminded the assembled that soldiers who guard the republic must be something different, but also something very important.
Fast forward to right now: after nearly 30 years of being tinkered with and, in many ways, decimated via politics, the armed forces of the United States are at a crossroads and inflection point. Our uniformed services are teetering towards being incapable of defending the country and becoming something General MacArthur warned against and something the founders never envisioned.
The American military and Department of Defense are in desperate need of new, fresh, clear-eyed, and purposeful leadership that is focused on one thing—the defense of the country. America needs someone to bring both a traditional and dynamic style of leadership to the Pentagon and to the armed forces. Pete Hegseth is that someone.
For the better part of 250 years, the American military was a politically agnostic entity. At times, our military would be filled with draftees, and at other times, it would be filled with small groups of volunteers. During conflicts, the government would call its sons to duty to defend the republic. Those sons would be sent home after the wars and after the peace was secure.
The military was by and large left to its own devices, which were to prepare for wars, small and large. In 1993, a tide began to turn, and social experimentation entered the paradigm of military service. The Clinton Administration began to morph the Department of Defense into something it was never intended to be. For the eight years of Clinton, societal change began to permeate the day-to-day existence of the DoD. From Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to women in combat roles, as well as small changes to the military’s ability to self-govern, Clinton’s actions encouraged ensuing presidents to use the armed forces for social experimentation.
Things were stable, and the tide stayed level during the Bush years, though W. did next to nothing to roll back the policies enacted by Clinton. In truth, Bush was too busy getting us into wars to do anything else. The Obama years saw devastating changes in policies and priorities. The Obama administration betrayed the American military by siding with enemies and doing things like prosecuting American servicemen who were making life-and-death decisions and jailing no small number of officers, noncommissioned officers, and junior enlisted personnel for things that were never crimes. Other social experimentation crept into day-to-day life as well. Readiness plummeted, as did morale and recruiting numbers. Obama’s years saw the promotion of woke officers and the implementation of policies that were both pointless and, at times, harmful, including the advancement in rank of flag officers who were politically correct in the eyes of the commander-in-chief.
President Trump did all he could in his first term, but there’s a body of belief he was undermined by the officer class that Obama had installed. Some senior officers in those years undermined the Commander-in-Chief, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has openly admitted to such since Trump left office. Some of these folks really ought to be getting attorneys, but that’s the topic for another editorial.
The four years of Joe Biden have seen a rapid decline in both the readiness and professionalism of our armed forces. Standards for recruiting and retention have been lowered, and the DoD is now apparently a petri dish of societal destruction. It really doesn’t take a life-long student of military history to know this is going on before our very eyes.
Now, President-elect Trump is getting a second crack at this problem. With four years of experience in his mind and four years of watching from outside the beltway, there is no doubt that Donald J. Trump knows what is needed in our Pentagon and at our installations around the country and globe. He knows we need a Pete Hegseth—immediately.
Pete served for 20 years in the Army, both in the reserves and in the National Guard. He is a combat veteran. He saw the “beast” of real war with his own eyes. He came home from war and was terribly mistreated by the woke culture that was permeating the DoD and the National Guard, right under the nose of Donald Trump. The stories of the disdain he experienced should be reviewed if you’re interested. His book “War on Warriors” brought tears to eyes as he chronicled what has happened to our warriors in recent years. Pete researched his book well, and his knowledge is firsthand.
What is BEST about Pete is his youth. He’s young enough to have the energy to handle what needs to be handled. He has no time for political correctness and understands what is needed to get our military back on track. I reject anyone who says his age or inexperience or his lack of high rank in the military should be held against him. Do not forget that when World War II kicked off, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a one-star general. He moved up the ladder to a five-star during the war because people in key spots knew of his capabilities.
After being betrayed by the professional class in DC in his first term, Trump knows who he needs in these key jobs. There is no more important job in the cabinet than Secretary of Defense. The SECDEF is one of two people who are part of the National Command Authority (NCA)—meaning one of two people who can make the most important decisions in our country.
Peter Hegseth is the type of person we need in this position. He knows we have only a limited amount of time to get our military back to its primary purpose—defending the republic. I believe Mr. Hegseth will get our forces back to readiness, lethality, and professionalism.
Pete is one of the Great Captains General MacArthur spoke of, and he is the type of leader the ghosts would want right now to be loudly speaking the words “Duty, Honor, Country.” Our great republic would do well to have Pete Hegseth confirmed and seated as the Secretary of Defense.
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Chuck Owen is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. He served 20 years of active duty and deployed to four different wartime engagements. He’s a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and a Founding Member of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus