I've been wondering for days why Pete Hegseth's 'speech' sounded like a high school gym teacher 'dumbing it down' for junior high students? I think I've found it.
As a former soldier I only had 4 years in the Australian Army Survey Corp making maps, and was never posted overseas in active engagement with the enemy! (Yes - and then I went on to study welfare and ended up in Child Protection - just in case anyone wanted to challenge my having a military background as well. I'm a 'career-carnie' and have moved sideways, across the lower rungs of many ladders, instead of up one ladder.)
However, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges provided feedback helped clarify it for me. And it's fairly basic:-
CIVILIZED OR NOT?
America needs to have allies and friends confident that they are one of us, one of those freedom loving nations that follow international law in the conventions of warfare. It's not "politically correct" or "woke" to follow the Geneva Convention! It's not some grand leftist conspiracy to make the American military less effective to try and limit the horror of war - especially as modern arms have become more precise and discriminating in targeting enemy combatants rather than just carpet bombing an enemy city - military and civilians alike. It's what separates us from the way the Russians are indiscriminately attacking civilian apartments and infrastructure in Ukraine.
MAXIMUM LETHALITY OR MAXIMUM MISSION BRIEF?
'Maximum lethality' only works in certain very specific missions.
Some combat situations DO require 'maximum lethality' - and the Obama administration used that when necessary! EG: Taking out Bin Laden. So what's this "woke" nonsense?
PEACE-KEEPING
But in a post-war peace-keeping capacity, in "Jus Post Bellum" AFTER the combat - you do NOT want trigger happy soldiers to randomly mow down any crowd of upset civilians! Because in the chaos of a post-war situation, there just is going to to be many instances where unhappy crowds are shouting and jostling around supply trucks, or protesting the many issues that arise when rebuilding both the infrastructure of buildings and government processes from scratch.
PROPAGANDA - AND THAT AWKWARD MIKE-DROP MOMENT
It's the same old MAGA playbook. Manufacture a perceived crisis - and then come in - flapping gums blazing - acting like the White Hat Sheriff promising to save the day. It's a showdown at High Noon with "woke leftists". Except - Hegseth's gym class is aimed at the world's most elite generals and admirals. His last line was delivered like a "mike drop" moment - yet was met with stony silence at the end.
Is ANYONE in this administration REMOTELY qualified to do their job!?