Current Secretary of Defense,,, err War, Pete Hegseth, has called for a gathering of over 800 Generals and Admirals. We’re not sure why. Despite being a major security risk (The Atlantic) Hegseth should feel a bit silly in this setting. This is because he is absolutely unqualified to hold the office he’s been appointed to by President for Life hopeful Donald Trump.
Former Fox News Host Pete Hegseth will be in a room with 800 people better qualified than he. They each have more knowledge, experience and dedication than he does.
The former Secretary of Defense was retired General Lloyd James Austin III. Trump called for him to be fired in January of 2024 after he failed to disclose he was hospitalized for four days (The Hill). The more likely reason, Austin is black.
Mr Austin has an auspicious education.
In 1975, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree. While at the academy, Austin played rugby and ran track. He later earned a Master of Arts degree in counselor education from Auburn University’s College of Education in 1986, and a Master of Business Administration in business management from Webster University in 1989. He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. Wikipedia
Mr Austin commanded many units during his service, as we would expect a flag officer would. He is very experienced. He started out as a infantry platoon commander and commanded companies, battalions, regiments and divisions. He also commanded forces in Iraq where he earned a Silver Star, the nations third highest award for valor in combat.
On December 8, 2006, Austin was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In February 2008, Austin became the second highest ranking commander in Iraq, taking command of the Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I). As commander of MNC-I, he directed the operations of approximately 152,000 joint and coalition forces across all sectors of Iraq
ALL the forces in Iraq
On September 1, 2010, at a ceremony at Al-Faw Palace in Baghdad, Austin was promoted to the rank of general, becoming the Army’s 200th four-star general officer and the sixth African American in the U.S. Army to achieve the top rank. He subsequently assumed the role of Commanding General (CG) of United States Forces – Iraq (USF-I) Wikipedia
He later became the US Army Vice Chief of Staff, the second highest ranked officer in the Army. Afterward he was given command of CENTCOM.
In his capacity as CENTCOM Commander, General Austin oversaw all U.S. troops deployed and major U.S. military operations around the area of Middle-East and Central and South Asia. The area consisted of 20 countries including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Egypt and Lebanon.
He served from 1975 to 2016; that’s 41 years. Officers with a regular commission can retire and receive healthy compensation for the rest of their life, after 20 years. Mr Austin was dedicated to serving his country.
Mr Hegseth ran a right wing political paper at Princeton University where he studied Political Science. In April 2002, Hegseth declared that as publisher of The Princeton Tory, he would “defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity.”
Hegseth earned a commission as a Second Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Captain and commanded a Company. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned a Bronze Star. His time in service was about 9 years, including time in the National Guard. Hegseth left the Army after being refused entrance to Joe Biden’s inauguration by security personnel because of a White Christian Nationalist tattoo “Deus Vult.” He also worked for Bear Stearns and as a Fox News Host.
It’s hard to say what Hegseth hopes to accomplish during his unprecedented address of 800 flag officers. Maybe someone wants to gauge their reactions to see who else to fire. I wonder if they will ask him about the time he texted classified information over an unsecured texting app (Politico). People lose stripes for that.