Is Donald Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary already boosting the U.S. military’s persistently low recruitment?
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said recently on ABC News that Hegseth has already received numerous letters indicating a possible trend of revived optimism about a military career, which Joe Biden killed with his catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal, deadly endangerment of troops, and bungling war-mongering.
Hagerty said, “I talked with [Pete] earlier this week. He told me about how many people had written to him and said, ‘look, I was thinking about getting out. You know we have a huge recruitment problem, a huge retention problem in the military. I was thinking about getting out, but now that you’ve come to lead us, Pete, I’m going to stay in.’”
The military recruiting crisis has noticeably worsened since Biden’s horrific Afghanistan withdrawal. True, young Americans’ increasing obesity and health problems are one factor, but as someone from a military family, I can also say that many troops grew increasingly pessimistic about the military and that, in an almost unprecedented situation, many military parents were actively discouraging their kids from following them into the armed forces. Now, with Trump in charge, especially if he and Hegseth actually enact some major reforms, that could change.
Military.com published an article in January titled, “The Military Recruiting Outlook Is Grim Indeed. Loss of Public Confidence, Political Attacks and the Economy Are All Taking a Toll.” While the article wasn’t completely honest about the factors involved — it didn’t put blame on Biden and woke political hacks in high military offices — it did highlight several of the major reasons why recruiting was at a history-changing low.
One veteran who praised Hegseth is Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden. He said that Hegseth was a “fantastic choice” for Defense secretary, citing Hegseth’s combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. O’Neill emphasized the value of Army National Guard veteran Hegseth being an establishment outsider, “He is not part of the good-old-boy network and has never been part of the swamp … He knows how to push himself.”
🚨🇺🇸NAVY SEAL WHO KILLED BIN LADEN PRAISES TRUMP'S DEFENSE PICK
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 16, 2024
Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, called Pete Hegseth a "fantastic choice" for defense secretary, emphasizing his combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, work with the National Guard, and… pic.twitter.com/7OHRDduhC5
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With Biden as commander-in-chief, it is not surprising that patriotic Americans were either disinclined to sign up for the military or planning how soon they could get out of uniform. But with Donald Trump as the new commander-in-chief and Hegseth as his Defense secretary, troops could hope for an international and domestic policy that would prioritize their safety and well-being and America’s strength and security.
It is to be hoped that Trump and Hegseth will fire the woke diversity hires in the military, get rid of the DEI ideology poisoning the military, and clean house in a major way, making the U.S. military once again anti-woke, patriotic, and the world’s most respected fighting force.
