US Military Officials Rallied by Defense Secretary Hegseth

October 7th, 2025
Jack Zhou

This week marked a rare and intensely scrutinized gathering of some of the United States’ highest-ranking military leaders, as they convened at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. Under orders from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 800 generals, admirals and senior officers from around the world were flown in on short notice to hear a pair of speeches: one from Hegseth himself and another from President Donald Trump. There has been no recent precedent for a meeting of this scale and with this many top military leaders.

Hegseth outlined his vision for the future of the military in his speech and addressed many of his concerns. The first of those includes his focus on warfighting. In light of the recent renaming of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, Hegseth made clear in his speech that the department would start focusing exclusively on warfighting.

Another concern that Hegseth addressed was his views on women in the military. The Defense Secretary stated that women would be expected to meet the highest “male standard,” with the full extent of his changes regarding these standards being unclear. However many feel that his statements fall in line with his criticisms of DEI, noting his anti-female tone of speech. Pete Hegseth also repeatedly declared that he would be ending “woke” culture at the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Hegseth also explained his vision for future service members, detailing his views on their weight, fitness and appearance. Hegseth complained that there were too many “fat” generals, troops and members. The department will now develop a physical fitness test to adhere to his views. Beyond words said in his speeches, Pete Hegseth also issued ten new directives on September 30, the day of the meeting. These directives enforce many of the statements he made at the meeting including the fitness test, warfighting commitments and a hazing review.

After Secretary Hegseth spoke, President Trump also made extremely bold claims at the Quantico meeting. He said that he wanted to use American cities as “training grounds” for the military and national guard. This went along with Trump’s narrative of “civil disturbances” and the “enemy from within” all residing in democratic cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco. This all comes after Trump has already deployed troops to US cities like Los Angeles, Portland and Washington DC. These statements have drawn backlash from many democrats, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who accused Trump of using ICE and the military to “invade and disrupt” US cities.

Overall, the event was shocking to say the least. Military officials at the meeting flew in from places like Europe, Asia and Africa to hear a two hour conference that was televised and contained no classified information whatsoever. The Quantico meeting will be remembered not for its structural upheaval but for its signaling: a military leaning hard into traditionalism, with overt warnings about tolerance for ideological dissent and renewed emphasis on physical readiness and force posture. The coming weeks will test whether this posture is enforced in promotions, policy and operations.

Key indicators to watch include whether the new fitness, grooming and command standards are implemented uniformly; how oversight structures (like Inspector General offices) evolve; whether civil-military boundaries in domestic deployments shift; and how officers react privately and quietly to the changes. The Quantico meeting may be less about a moment of rupture and more about setting the tone for what military leadership will look like under this administration.