Hubris
I just caught a glimpse of Secretary of “War” Hegseth preaching to the top command echelon of the United States military. I’ll call it what it is: pure hubris. This relatively young man, a combat veteran himself (but most qualified for his current assignment by his “dangerous” Fox News Weekend duties) demanded that ALL of the leaders of the military, from every branch, come to him. He didn’t want a video link, and he couldn’t send an email.
No, he needed “butts in seats” in Quantico, Virginia, regardless that those leaders had to travel from all over the world. In spite of the literally millions of dollars this exercise in ego cost America, he required them to leave their incredibly important posts. The US Armed Forces is publicly “deactivated”, the American military threat-response compromised, for Pete, because he wanted their attention, RIGHT NOW.
Warrior Ethos
Pete is a “true believer” in the “Warrior Ethos”. It’s all the rage in the white, male, thirty-something set (though Pete himself is forty-five). It’s modeled from what they call “The Teams”, the near mythical Special Forces who do America’s “dirty work” throughout the world . Most Americans are familiar with Seal Team Six, who “took out” Osama Bin Laden back in the Obama Administration. But younger men know them better from video games like “Call of Duty”.
Hegseth didn’t want to lead a “Defense” Department. He wants to be an offensive guy, who gets it; that battles are dirty, and takes “tough guys” to win out. He sees the military as a brotherhood, almost a Priesthood of dedicated men who put on the vestments of the uniform and sacrifice themselves for the Nation.
It’s a “war” out there, so we should be a “War” department. It’s all kind of “George Patton” thing. That’s for the Boomers who remember George C Scott’s opening monologue in the movie “Patton”, the one that President Nixon watched to steel himself for military decisions. Hegseth (and Trump) both spoke in front of a US Flag backdrop today, identical to the movie set. That’s not a coincidence.
Brilliance
And there is a place for Warriors in the “War” Department. But to go back in our history for a moment, Patton is a great example. He was a “Warrior” in the Hegseth model. He used profanity to make himself a “common guy” like his soldiers. Hegseth just told the mass of Generals in front of him, “FAFO”. He used initials. (I’d expect a “real” Warrior would just say it: “Fuck Around and Find Out”). Patton led forces successfully into battle. He even mixed an almost childlike Christian religious devotion with his Warrior ethos.
But what is easy to forget is that Patton was a tool (yes in both ways). He was managed by two of the greatest military leaders of any time, Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall. Neither of them were part of some physical “Warrior Ethos”. In fact, General Douglas MacArthur called Eisenhower, “…the best clerk I ever had”. Marshall and Eisenhower were brilliant organizers, able to put personnel, materiel, and strategy together to win World War II. Sure, Patton had his part, but he wasn’t “critical”. He was the “point” of one spear, of the thousands of spears that the brilliant organizers had to put in place to win.
Modern Defense
We need “Warriors” in the military. We also need “Programmers” and “Guidance Specialists” and “Supply Clerks” and “Nuclear Engineers” and “Research Analysts” and “Strategists”. And, to put it bluntly, it doesn’t require testicles to be any of those things. This “brotherhood” concept is based on a mythical, video game view of what American defense is all about. It’s not real – and never really has been. George Washington as a young man was a Warrior. But, during the American Revolution, he was a strategist, willing to retreat, give away key cities like New York and Philadelphia, and even be a “politician” to win the war.
I’m sure that there are “Warrior Ethos” Generals in the military, who are proud of what “young Pete” is doing. And I’m also sure there are generals who recognize that in our modern world, “Warrior Ethos” isn’t the key need in American defense. What is needed: an ability to use all the “tools” available, men and women of all kinds, physically strong or mentally adept or both. It was the “odd man” in his bathrobe who “won” the Battle of Midway, detecting the Japanese code for Midway Island. It was the gay man who broke the Enigma code for Great Britain. And, it was courageous women, like my own mother, who led the fight in Nazi occupied Europe.
They wouldn’t be part of Pete’s vision of the “brotherhood”. They aren’t welcome in Pete’s military today.
And that is a big loss for America.
