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- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤
No. of Recommendations: 2
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s surprise gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals in Virginia next week is being called so he can describe the administration’s reinvention of the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” and outline new standards for military personnel, according to half a dozen people familiar with the planning.
“It’s meant to be a show of force of what the new military now looks like under the president,” a White House official told CNN.
The meeting is expected to resemble “a pep rally” where Hegseth will underscore the importance of the “warrior ethos” and outline a new vision for the US military, said three of the sources. He is expected to discuss new readiness, fitness and grooming standards the officers are expected to adhere to and enforce.
“It’s about getting the horses into the stable and whipping them into shape,” said a defense official familiar with the planning. “And the guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint. This is a showcase for Hegseth to tell them: get on board, or potentially have your career shortened.”
Four possible reasons were outlined earlier today as to why Hegseth would do such an extraordinary thing.
The answer seems to be solution number one:
1. He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
No. of Recommendations: 12
The meeting is expected to resemble “a pep rally” where Hegseth will underscore the importance of the “warrior ethos” and outline a new vision for the US military, said three of the sources. He is expected to discuss new readiness, fitness and grooming standards the officers are expected to adhere to and enforce.
"This could have been an email," writ large.
Nothing says that you're serious about national security than dragging your entire top defense personnel from all across the world, away from their active duties, in order to attend a pep rally so that they can hear in person the Defense Secretary read a prepared statement on readiness fitness and grooming standards. Instead of, you know, using the secure telecommunications systems that have been developed exactly so that your top defense personnel don't have to travel across the world, away from their active duties, to receive instructions on routine low-level administrative matters whose implementation will be delegated to officers many ranks below them anyway.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Nothing says that you're serious about national security than dragging your entire top defense personnel from all across the world, away from their active duties, in order to attend a pep rally so that they can hear in person the Defense Secretary read a prepared statement on readiness fitness and grooming standards.
In my 30+ years as a wage slave, I saw two short notice, mandatory, all hands, meetings.
First, in December of 99, when Office Depot informed everyone in my department that they were shutting down the department, and kicking us all on the street, in two weeks.
Second, when the owner of the company tired of hearing people around the office talking trash about his biggest customer, he called a meeting to tell the offending parties that hearing another negative comment about that customer, was grounds for immediate termination.
Unless the SecDef is so narcissistic that he wants to see 800 flag rank officers bow and scrape, in person, in his presence, my expectation is he is going to drop the hammer on them, in a big way. Something very controversial. If he had sent out an e-mail, he could not see the reactions, as they happen.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
Unless the SecDef is so narcissistic
That is a very real possibility.
No. of Recommendations: 2
1. He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
Kegsbreath is living up to his moniker.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Instead of, you know, using the secure telecommunications systems that have been developed exactly so that your top defense personnel don't have to travel across the world
Perhaps he figured that a Signal chat wouldn't be able to handle 800+ participants, and didn't want to risk someone inviting Jeff Goldberg.
No. of Recommendations: 8
>>Unless the SecDef is so narcissistic<
That is a very real possibility. This piece points to narcissism.
Leaks Show Hegseth’s Selfish Reason for Calling in Generals
The former Fox News personality, now a top Trump official, reportedly wants to make a video of his brief speech.
As it was put to CNN, the “guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint.”
The defense secretary’s team plans to record his speech and then release it publicly. It will also reportedly be amplified by the White House.
The defense secretary, an Army veteran, has repeatedly shown disdain for “woke” military leaders, ordered a reduction of four-star generals, ranted about what he calls the “warrior ethos,” and shared content of himself working out.https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/articles/hegs...The article also mentions an assembly of flag officers in Berlin, in 1935, to replace their oath to the Weimar constitution, with an oath to Hitler.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
As it was put to CNN, the “guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint.”
The big splash with little effect. But I do wonder what the "grooming" standards will be. :) So Hegseth is a groomer, eh?
No. of Recommendations: 3
The big splash with little effect. But I do wonder what the "grooming" standards will be. :) So Hegseth is a groomer, eh?
Given that, at least since the invasion of Iraq, over 20 years ago, the GIs I have seen are clean shaven, with a distinctly "high and tight" haircut, I wonder how much more severe the "grooming" could be? I have pix of my dad when he was in the army, during WWII. He had a perfectly normal looking haircut, for the early 40s. That was the army that took down the Third Reich, so the haircut had nothing to do with the "war fighting" capability of the army.
It could be vanity on the SecDef's part: requiring flag officers to have the same sort of Christian Nationalist tats that the SecDef has, but that would be a pretty big, inflammatory, ask.
Steve
