brass

Ukraine and Gaza. China and North Korea. Iran and Russia. There was so much to address Tuesday when 800 generals, admirals and their senior enlisted leaders in the U.S. military were ordered into one location from around the world on short notice.

The sudden meeting in Quantico, Va., was called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And it was an unprecedented event for unprecedented times, but not in the way that anyone imagined. Hegseth took aim at the packed room’s waistlines, proclaiming that he no longer wanted to see “fat generals and admirals,” or overweight troops.

“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said to the 800 likely stunned souls in the room. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.”

Flanked by a portly President Trump, he proclaimed, “It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are.”

President Trump joined his Defense secretary in urging his top military brass to shape up.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

Like a sugary doughnut, the hypocrisy was too tempting to pass up. California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s X account posted, “I guess the Commander in Chief needs to go!” Newsom also juxtaposed a clip of Hegseth’s speech with a photo of Trump in a McDonald’s restaurant, the president’s stomach protruding over the belt line of his slacks.

The former Fox News personality turned secretary of Defense initially gave no reason last month when he summoned leaders stationed across the globe to attend the meeting, causing concern and conjecture among military and congressional officials about the purpose of the gathering. Trump told NBC that they would deliver a “good message” about “being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.”

That new “positive” messaging? Terminating restrictions on hazing for boot-camp recruits, toughening grooming standards (no more “beardos”), doing away with racial quotas and raising physical standards for everyone in uniform to a “male level.”

“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in a combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat-arms physical standards as men, or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons, platform or task, or under a leader who was the first but not the best,” Hegseth said Tuesday.

He added that troops will have to meet “gender-neutral, age-normed, male standard, scored 70% ” fitness levels. “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” he said. But all will be fat-shamed on an equal basis.

“Today, at my direction, every member of the joint force, at every rank, is required to take a PT [physical training] test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service,” he said.

Hegseth’s obsession with appearing ripped and manly is nothing new. The 45-year-old has challenged 71-year-old Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fitness tests in which the men do 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in 10 minutes or less.

The “Pete and Bobby Challenge,” as Hegseth calls it, was posted on the official HHS YouTube account and circulated widely on social media.

Hegseth’s deep message to the troops keeping America safe: “It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular, hard PT, so can every member of our joint force.”

Hegseth has repeatedly emphasized that the updated fitness requirements for troops are part of a larger effort to achieve a “warrior ethos” in the U.S. military. Uncle Sam wants YOU! But not until you drop that BMI below 24.9.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gathered 800 top US military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia for an unprecedented meeting, where he railed against “political correctness” and revealed 10 directives to restore strict standards on fitness, grooming, and discipline.

Sept. 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke before a gathering of top military brass in Quantico, Va., brought in from around the world Tuesday.

Trump, after lamenting that the room was so quiet when he walked in, told the meeting of top military leaders, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK?”

Hegseth told the military officers that they had gone soft and that reforms would overhaul the Department of Defense inspector general and equal opportunity programs.

“I call it the ‘no more walking on eggshells’ policy,” he said. “We are liberating commanders and NCOs. We are liberating you.”

“We are overhauling an inspector general process — the IG that has been weaponized,” he said. “We’re doing the same with the equal opportunity and military equal opportunity policies. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations. No more endless waiting, no more legal limbo. No more side-tracking careers, no more walking on eggshells.”

Hegseth told them to quit, if they disagreed. “If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, you should do the honorable thing and resign.”

Trump said his administration plans to make more announcements soon to “fully embrace the identity of the Department of War.”

“I love the name. I think it’s so great. I think it stops wars,” Trump said. “The Department of War is going to stop wars.”

Trump also characterized his sending troops to U.S. cities as a war at home.

“This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” Trump said. “That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security. We can’t let these people in.”

He brought up nuclear power and said he sent a nuclear submarine to Russia earlier this year.

“We were a little bit threatened by Russia recently, and I sent a submarine, nuclear submarine, the most lethal weapon ever made,” Trump said. “Number one, you can’t detect it. There’s no way. We’re 25 years ahead of Russia and China in submarines.”

Modern nuclear submarines are difficult to detect, but are not undetectable.

“Frankly, if it does get to use, we have more than anybody else,” Trump said. “We have better, we have newer, but it’s something we don’t ever want to even have to think about.”

He called the word “nuclear” the second “n-word.” “I call it the n-word. There are two n-words, and you can’t use either of them.”

He reiterated his call for making Canada a 51st state. He said Canada called him and said it wanted to be part of Trump’s plans for a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield.

“They want to be part of it, to which I said, ‘Why don’t you just join our country? You become 51, become the 51st state, and you get it for free,” he said. “So I don’t know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense … because they’re having a hard time up there in Canada now, because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone’s coming into our country.”

He also talked again about former President Joe Biden‘s autopen use, though he has used an autopen himself.

Singapore – Of the many military officials darting across the lobby of Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel this weekend, there has been one significant absence.

China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun skipped the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, with Beijing sending a delegation of lower-ranking representatives instead.

It was the first time since 2019 that China has not dispatched its defence minister to the high-level dialogue on regional defence, except when the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing’s decision raised eyebrows in Singapore, coming at a time of heightened tensions between China and the United States – the world’s two biggest superpowers.

Dong’s absence meant there was no face-to-face meeting with his US counterpart, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who had the floor to himself on Saturday when he told the defence forum that the military threat posed by China was potentially imminent.

“It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth told delegates in Singapore.

Pointing to China’s regular military drills around Taiwan as well as increasingly frequent skirmishes in the South China Sea, Hegseth said Beijing was proactively harassing its neighbours.

“There’s no reason to sugar-coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said.

He also pointed to China’s growing military assertiveness as a reason for Asian nations to boost their defence spending, pointing to Germany, which has pledged to move towards spending 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.

“It doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defence in the face of an even more formidable threat,” Hegseth said.

The defence chief also looked to reassure Asian allies that Washington was committed to Asia Pacific security despite strained ties in recent months as US President Donald Trump targeted some close allies with hefty trade tariffs.

“America is proud to be back in the Indo-Pacific, and we’re here to stay,” he said, opening his speech.

Some analysts were quick to play down the severity of Hegseth’s warnings about China.

“Short of a very few countries, not many in this part of the world see China as an imminent threat and would up their [defence] spending,” said Dylan Loh, assistant professor in the public policy and global affairs programme at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

China tight-lipped on defence chief’s absence

In previous years, the Shangri-La Dialogue had provided a rare platform for meetings between Chinese and US officials in the more informal surroundings that the summit could offer.

The structure of the schedule also allowed Beijing’s military chiefs to directly respond to the keynote speech from the US defence secretary and to present their narrative to other members of the Asia Pacific.

Beijing has remained tight-lipped on the reason for Defence Minister Dong’s absence from the forum, fuelling an information void that has been filled by speculation.

One theory is that China did not want to send a high-profile delegate to the event at such a sensitive time as Beijing navigates the tariff war with the Trump administration.

“Any sort of faux pas or comments that may go off script can be picked up and picked apart or misconstrued,” said Loh, of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“So the question is why take the risk when US-China relations are at a very delicate point at this moment,” Loh told Al Jazeera.

The Shangri-La Dialogue weekend has not always been the easiest occasion for Chinese defence ministers. In recent years, they have faced difficult questions from their counterparts in other countries, who are unhappy with Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the Asia Pacific region.

Loh said this could be another factor in Dong’s absence from the high-profile event.

“Any Chinese defence minister coming to Singapore now will be exposing himself and the country to political risk,” he said. “Themes like the South China Sea and possibly Taiwan will emerge, which makes China a convenient target,” Loh added.

Dong was appointed as China’s defence minister in late 2023, after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed from office.

Less than a year into the job, there was speculation surrounding Dong’s new position following media reports that he was under investigation as part of a wider investigation into corruption in the Chinese military. Beijing denied the reports, with the minister continuing to maintain a public profile despite the allegations.

There has also been intense scrutiny of China’s military, following reports of an apparent purge of top-level officials by President Xi Jinping.

One of Beijing’s most senior generals, He Weidong, was missing from a high-profile political meeting in April, adding to rumours surrounding a possible restructuring in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Ian Chong, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie China research centre, said such speculation could be a factor in Dong’s no-show in Singapore.

“Because of the domestic turmoil with China’s senior military, they perhaps don’t want to, or the PLA itself feels that it’s not in a position to send somebody senior,” Chong told Al Jazeera.

Announcing Dong’s absence at a news conference before the summit, Chinese military spokesperson Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang maintained that communication channels were still open between defence officials in Washington and Beijing.

“China places great importance on US-China military ties, and is open to communication at different levels,” Zhang said.