War Secretary Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals Sep 30 in Virginia

[Chesterton]

You don't understand the factors involved. I have personally staffed military unit deployments...I know more questions to ask and situations that occur. It becomes a lot more expensive because it was a rushed call...they had to arrive within a week of notification, which negated many cost saving factors that could have occurred if they'd been given a couple of months warning.

Key assumptions (explicit & fixed)​

• 400 generals (each on their own aircraft), 800 assistants → 1,200 people total. This is a low estimate.
• Origins: theater commands worldwide → average round-trip flight time ≈ 14 hours.
• Per-hour aircraft operating cost (per general’s aircraft): Low = $10k/hr, Mid = $20k/hr, High = $35k/hr.
• Assistants: average international last-minute travel $1,200 each.
• Lodging: $300 / room / night in the Washington DC area, assume 2 nights for 1,200 rooms.
• Local transfers: $250 / person.
• Base support, security, hangars, handling, admin overhead: 15% of subtotal.
• Rush/inefficiency multiplier (positioning, surge, extra tanker/standby costs, etc.): ×1.40.

---

Line-by-line math (per scenario)​

Flights — generals (round trip 14 hr)

• Low: $10,000/hr × 14 hr = $140,000 per general → 400 × $140,000 = $56,000,000
• Mid: $20,000/hr × 14 hr = $280,000 per general → 400 × $280,000 = $112,000,000
• High: $35,000/hr × 14 hr = $490,000 per general → 400 × $490,000 = $196,000,000

Assistants travel

• 800 × $1,200 = $960,000

Lodging

• 1,200 rooms × $300/night × 2 nights = $720,000

Ground transfers

• 1,200 × $250 = $300,000

Subtotal (flights + assistants + lodging + ground)

• Low subtotal = $56,000,000 + 960,000 + 720,000 + 300,000 = $57,980,000
• Mid subtotal = $112,000,000 + 960,000 + 720,000 + 300,000 = $113,980,000
• High subtotal = $196,000,000 + 960,000 + 720,000 + 300,000 = $197,980,000

Add 15% overhead (base support, security, hangars, admin)

• Low → $57,980,000 × 1.15 = $66,677,000
• Mid → $113,980,000 × 1.15 = $131,077,000
• High → $197,980,000 × 1.15 = $227,677,000

Apply 1.40 rush/inefficiency multiplier

• Low (final): $66,677,000 × 1.4 = $93,347,800 → ≈ $93.3 million
• Mid (final): $131,077,000 × 1.4 = $183,507,800 → ≈ $183.5 million
• High (final): $227,677,000 × 1.4 = $318,747,800 → ≈ $318.7 million

---

Concise takeaway​

• Best single mid-range estimate: ≈ $184 million.
• Plausible range given assumptions: ~$93 million (very optimistic) to ~$319 million (pessimistic).
• Biggest cost driver: per-hour aircraft cost × long global flight hours (i.e., the choice of VIP/strategic lift and lack of consolidation).
• Secondary drivers: rush/positioning inefficiencies, tanker/escort needs, and surge security/ground handling.

I don't know. Maybe you know more than ChatGPT and the experts it reviewed.

 

[Chesterton]

That could have happened in a televised presidential address to the nation.

Nowadays there's this thing called the internet...

 

[Bradskii]

I wish to put everyone here on notice: I will no longer be responding to blind posts. There should be no need to explain things that have already been explained for the sake of people who don't follow threads. (Pro-tip: they're meant to be followed. That's why they're called "threads".)

There's nothing to explain.

Another pro tip for you. Sometimes a question is just a simple hypothetical. Did you really think it needed a response?*

*see what I did there?**

**and there.

 

[Chesterton]

There's nothing to explain.

Another pro tip for you. Sometimes a question is just a simple hypothetical. Did you really think it needed a response?*

*see what I did there?**

**and there.

Chesterton: "I didn't listen to Trump's speech."

Two posts later -

Bradskii: "Did you watch Trump's speech?"

Oi vey. We shouldn't have to live like this.

 

[Bradskii]

Chesterton: "I didn't listen to Trump's speech."

I would strongly advise everyone who hasn't put themselves through it to follow your example. It's not recommended for those without a robust constitution.

 

[RDKirk]

I don't know. Maybe you know more than ChatGPT and the experts it reviewed.

I didn't even include some other issues like additional emergency secured communications (because Quantico has nothing to provide so many commanders with contact to their organizations). It's likely they had to harbor many of the additional aircraft at commercial fields around the area, which means the government was paying emergency Landing/Handling/Ground Service Fees for many of those aircraft.

 

[iluvatar5150]

"It's a war from within," the president said to the room of high-ranking military generals who flew from across the globe to Quantico, Virginia. "We're under invasion from within," Trump said.

Trump talked about his efforts to increase the use of the U.S. military in American cities. Trump claimed Democratic-run cities, such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, are in "bad shape," and that he threatened to "straighten them out, one by one."

"I told Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard," Trump said.

<reactions>

[Speaker] Johnson, who was pressed about whether training troops in American cities was appropriate, said Trump's comments were "cherry-picked out of a long speech."

When asked if using military troops in American cities was appropriate, Johnson said, "I don't serve on the Pentagon, I run the House of Representatives."

Immediately following Johnson's remarks, [Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries said the president's comment was a "deeply disturbing statement,"

"A single American should never be viewed as an 'enemy from within' or as target practice for the American military," Jeffries said.

"We have the finest military in the world and they should be used to keep us safe from external enemies," Jeffries added.

Where all my 2A guys at? Isn't this the kind of thing those guys have been prepping for?

I don't know. Maybe you know more than ChatGPT and the experts it reviewed.

lol, I would hope so.

 

[Bradskii]

I've just watched both speeches.

I thought Hesgeth's was asinine. And then I watched Trump's. I have no words that could possibly describe it. Maybe pathetic comes closest?

 

[RDKirk]

Where all my 2A guys at? Isn't this the kind of thing those guys have been prepping for?



lol, I would hope so.

He's only sending troops where they aren't.

 

[wing2000]

"Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control."


Anthropologist James Greenberg writes:

"Trump’s recent language points toward a model of governance that treats dissent as insurgency. His definition of the “enemy within” is intentionally vague, shifting from day to day depending on who stands in his way. At times it is Democratic leaders like Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi, at times city governments, and at other moments judges, bureaucrats, or journalists. The category shifts by design. Its vagueness is the source of its usefulness.

In anthropology, words are not just descriptions. They are practices that shape reality. To call someone an “enemy within” is to reclassify them. It redraws the boundary of belonging, transforming neighbors into adversaries and dissent into betrayal. This is cultural work carried out through language, and its effect is to redefine citizenship itself.

At Quantico, speaking to military officers, Trump warned that “the enemy from within” would be their responsibility to confront. The remark was deliberate, meant as a signal. By invoking a domestic “enemy,” he collapsed the civic frame of politics into the military frame of war. Opposition was no longer disagreement among citizens but a threat to be suppressed."

Prelude to Military Dictatorship

The “enemy within” and the militarization of American politics

jamesbgreenberg.substack.com

 

[RDKirk]

"Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control."


Anthropologist James Greenberg writes:

"Trump’s recent language points toward a model of governance that treats dissent as insurgency. His definition of the “enemy within” is intentionally vague, shifting from day to day depending on who stands in his way. At times it is Democratic leaders like Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi, at times city governments, and at other moments judges, bureaucrats, or journalists. The category shifts by design. Its vagueness is the source of its usefulness.

In anthropology, words are not just descriptions. They are practices that shape reality. To call someone an “enemy within” is to reclassify them. It redraws the boundary of belonging, transforming neighbors into adversaries and dissent into betrayal. This is cultural work carried out through language, and its effect is to redefine citizenship itself.

At Quantico, speaking to military officers, Trump warned that “the enemy from within” would be their responsibility to confront. The remark was deliberate, meant as a signal. By invoking a domestic “enemy,” he collapsed the civic frame of politics into the military frame of war. Opposition was no longer disagreement among citizens but a threat to be suppressed."

Prelude to Military Dictatorship

The “enemy within” and the militarization of American politics

jamesbgreenberg.substack.com

It also diminishes what they consider their primary mission, the "enemy without."

They can't maintain a cohesive force that does both equally well. The military trains to kill people and break things at high volume. They can do less, but every hour doing less "de-trains" them from their primary mission. By "de-training," the military means "We are need to react in X manner to Y situation in order to prevail. But we're being required to react in Z manner to Y situation, which decreases our ability to respond in X manner--when it will really count." They have to train for their primary mission.

They need to be actually operating in "X manner" or training to operate in "X manner." What Trump really wants--and what he was actually saying--is that he intends the military to be a Federal Internal Security Force.

 

[iluvatar5150]

He's only sending troops where they aren't.

What's the point of having a big pickup if you aren't mobile? I know the coal rolling eats into the gas mileage, but c'mon guys. Freedom is in danger!

 

[7thKeeper]

I've just watched both speeches.

I thought Hesgeth's was asinine. And then I watched Trump's. I have no words that could possibly describe it. Maybe pathetic comes closest?

My thought for Hegseth was "wow, I'm listening to an internet keyboard warrior speaking live." That man must think that war is exactly like in a b-tier Hollywood movies is the impression I was left with.

 

[BCP1928]

My thought for Hegseth was "wow, I'm listening to an internet keyboard warrior speaking live." That man must think that war is exactly like in a b-tier Hollywood movies is the impression I was left with.

The whole lot of them think they are in a TV reality show.

 

[childeye 2]

I've just watched both speeches.

And then I watched Trump's. I have no words that could possibly describe it. Maybe pathetic comes closest?

Traits of Malignant narcissism pretty much describes what I watched.

• Being extremely arrogant and self-centered
• Disregarding the feelings and needs of other people
• Manipulating, using, or exploiting others for personal gain or pleasure
• Having an extreme need for power
• Acts of revenge against those who criticize them
• Fantasizing about ways to obtain more power or dominance over others
• Lacking conscience, regret, or remorse for their actions
• Being cruel and taking pleasure in the pain of others
• High levels of aggression towards other people
• Paranoia or mistrust of others

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Presidential helicopters on CVN 75 practice for Trump visit tomorrow. I find it suspicious that the Navy sends me underway the day before.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

 

[wing2000]

Presidential helicopters on CVN 75 practice for Trump visit tomorrow. I find it suspicious that the Navy sends me underway the day before.

...visit to announce his "War" on the Cartels?

 

[Aryeh Jay]

...visit to announce his "War" on the Cartels?

Who knows, but I am sure he will get the applause he craves.

 

[Gene2memE]

It also diminishes what they consider their primary mission, the "enemy without."
...
What Trump really wants--and what he was actually saying--is that he intends the military to be a Federal Internal Security Force.

It's from a piece of fiction (Battlestar Galactica), but this quote always sticks with me:

"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people".