Posted on 10/07/2025 11:57:20 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “my way or the highway” message to hundreds of generals and admirals at a summit in Virginia last week has sparked fears that some top leaders may choose to bow out of the U.S. military entirely.
The departure of two senior leaders last week stoked those worries, though the Pentagon says they were unrelated to Hegseth’s ultimatum.
“His speech directly attacked the values of many of the senior officers and enlisted members in the audience, and I would expect many of them to demonstrate their disgust by retiring,” Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel and former military lawyer who watched the speech, said of Hegseth.
The two senior military leaders to leave were Gen. Thomas Bussiere, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, and Gen. Bryan Fenton, head of U.S. Special Operations Command based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
Bussiere, who was appointed by President Trump, was previously nominated to serve as the Air Force’s vice chief of staff in August, but his nomination was pulled just weeks later.
In his retirement announcement, posted to Facebook on Tuesday, he cited “personal and family reasons” as the main driver for his departure, noting he had made the “difficult” decision after much reflection.
Fenton’s retirement came after three years in the role. “FWIW, Gen. Fenton was planning on retiring, it was not tied to SecWar’s speech,” Kristina Wong, an adviser to Hegseth, wrote last week on the social platform X.
The high-profile exits came just hours after Hegseth’s speech to hundreds of top admirals and generals in Quantico, Va., in which he outlined his vision of a military void of “woke garbage,” proposing less restrictive rules of engagement and fewer waivers that allow troops to have a beard. He also declared he would curtail...
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
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I believe that was the general idea.
Yep.
Especially the values of the traitors to the United States of America!
Were those 0bama’s or Biden’s generals?
“Less restrictive rules of engagement” …….. FINALLY!!!!!
“Fears”?
“Hopes”, on my part, if they are upset about Hegseth’s speech.
Make it so.
The US military is waaayyy too top heavy anyway.
“I believe that was the general idea.”
Almost certainly!
Disgust? At their own slovenly statures? Bow away......
“my way or the highway”
Im pretty certain he is within the rules of the UCMJ whereas many of their behaviors have not been
The Hill will never get that
“His speech directly attacked the values of many of the senior officers and enlisted members in the audience, and I would expect many of them to demonstrate their disgust by retiring,” Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel and former military lawyer who watched the speech, said of Hegseth.”
Perhaps Mr. Christensen is gay and engaging in wishful thinking.
Don’t ask, Don’t tell was the right and proper policy.
An Air Force colonel lawyer is quoted as an expert?
This brings back the Dan Rather days when Rather and Mapes used an ignorant lieutenant clerk and an Army colonel who knew absolutely nothing of the Texas Air Guard as their two go-to experts on Bush’s service.
A complete purge would have been better.
I hope so...................
Officers have one value, that is to support and defend the Constitution. They demonstrated other values to Obama and Biden.
If there is room at the top, that sounds fine to me.
Yes, that’s the plan.
Am I the only one at least a little concerned that some may be leaving because they see a significant chance of a war with China, and they don’t want to be the Generals/Admirals in charge when that happens? Hegseth is making good changes, but reversing decades of Political Correctness will take time, and China may well see a window of opportunity closing, not getting wider.
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