Make Military Mighty Again: the troops' first major war will be against wokism and obesity

Donald Trump, alongside Pete Hegseth, delivered a resounding blow to restore the fear and respect once commanded by US military power. He declared that the troops’ first great war will be against themselves, or more precisely, against obesity and woke culture, which he said has infiltrated the institution to the point where soldiers appear on social media more focused on dancing, singing or participating queer performances than preparing to fulfill their mission.

It's not really news, since this is an issue that had been troubling the current president already during Joe Biden's term in office. During this period, the Republican launched numerous messages with allusions to the need to recover the prestige and power of the different military corps so that the US can maintain world hegemony.

Something that has become imperative, especially now that the Chinese weapons might has grown considerably and growing global uncertainty, with tensions across much of the globe that could trigger a dangerous escalation.

"A war from within"

In addition, Trump highlighted an added danger, and one that lies within the country's own borders:

"San Francisco, Chicago, New York, New York, Los Angeles, these are very unsafe places and we're going to straighten them out one by one. I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but our military. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room, because it's the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security."

In fact, Trump recalled that other great presidents already had to deal with insider threats during their tenure: “History is built with military heroes who took on all enemies, foreign and domestic. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, George Bush and others all used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace.”

Mindset shift: from the Defense Department to the War Department

For all these reasons, both Trump and Hegseth reiterated the need for a radical change to recover the classic values of the military, thereby justifying the change of name of the Department, now called Of War: "The name change reflects far more than the shift in branding — it's really a historic reassertion of our purpose, our identity and our pride."

Values that, as Hegseth denounced, and as the military establishment itself "are in decline" as a result of previous administrations. The result is a "less capable and less lethal Pentagon." A situation he intends to reverse by emphasizing "the warrior ethos" and "peace through force."

"No more dudes in dresses"

"We lost our way and we became the 'woke' department, but not anymore, For too long, we have promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts. No more identity months, no more DEI offices, no more dudes in dresses. No more climate change cult, no more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more rubble.

Words he completed by recalling the job soldiers are actually called to do: "You make your living killing people and breaking things. You're not politically correct and you don't necessarily always belong to polite society."

War on obesity and return to male standards for recruitment

Within the strategy to regain military capability, the physical fitness of the troops will be one of the priorities of Hegseth, who declared a war to the death on obesity among the troops:

"Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the world. It's a bad look."

Equal high physical requirements for both sexes

In reality, this is a problem that goes far beyond giving a "bad look," but rather being able to combat at the highest level. For this reason, the secretary of war announced that he intends to return to the "original physical standards" when it comes to recruiting. A criterion that would have no different values for women seeking to enlist:

"When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender-neutral. If women can do it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women are eligible for some combat positions, so be it. That's not the intention, but it could be the result."

In order to ensure that the required standards are met, Hegseth noted that "anyone wearing the uniform will take the PT test twice a year, and pass height and weight requirements."

"We are the United States military. We will fight, fight, fight, and we will win, win, win"

Trump also noted that it's not just about preventing or fighting wars. It's about winning, something U.S. troops have done throughout the world throughout history:

"America's military has charged into hellfire, climbed up jagged mountains, crossed roaring oceans, and thundered across open deserts to defend our flag, our freedom and our homeland. Nobody does it like you. We are the United States military. The best, the boldest, the bravest that the world has ever seen. We will fight, fight, fight, and we will win, win, win."