'Insulting and condescending': Retired general rips into Hegseth over 'rah-rah speech'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned the U.S. military's most senior leadership from their posts all around the globe to an all-hands meeting Tuesday in Virginia, and a retired general said the Pentagon chief's stated reasons were "insulting and condescending."

Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals, admirals and their senior enlisted advisers to attend the meeting at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, where both he and President Donald Trump will address them in a talk intended to boost their spirits and promote the defense secretary's "warrior ethos" — which MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said was richly ironic.

"Thatmust be rich coming from Pete Hegseth to generals andadmirals who have fought,risked their lives, served inuniform and war for decades now,some of them for decades, andthey're going to get a lectureon warrior spirit," the "Morning Joe" host said.

Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, said those officers and senior enlisted personnel were already deeply familiar with the topic of Hegseth's lecture, which Scarborough referred to as a "rah-rah-speech," because it's one of the four elements on which military culture is based.

"The warriorethos is just one part of theprofessional triad that themilitary has," Hertling said. "You have the oathto the Constitution, theservice's values. I can stillname the Army values: loyalty,duty, respect, selfless service,integrity, honor and personalcourage. All services have that, and then the warrior ethos isjust a performative method ofactualizing that. Well, itstarted out that way and thenit became well, no, there wasan announcement that someone inthe Pentagon said this was allabout getting the horses intothe stable and whipping theminto shape. That's insultingand condescending."

Hertling believes the president got involved after his defense secretary faced immediate blowback for calling the highly unusual meeting.

"It appearsthe president is going to showup and talk to them, as well, and that's probably becausethis event has become such alightning rod over itsstaggering costs, the securityrisk of bringing so many peoplein to one place and thedisruption of ongoingoperations," Hertling said.

"So the presidentwill talk. We have seen thepresident talk at severalmilitary functions. First,there was the Fort Braggfunction, which is embarrassingto the Army, the way thosesoldiers acted. I then attendedpersonally the West Pointgraduation, and the cadets weretold, as they were sitting onthe parade field getting readyto get their diplomas, thatthey better keep a poker faceand remember their professionalactivities."

"I don't know whathe's going to say to thisaudience, but they have to beadaptable," the retired general added. "Again, put on astoic face, have a poker face,not show any emotion. But I'msure, depending on what thepresident says, what the secretaryof defense has said, it maycause certainly some emotionalreaction from the crowd. Butthey've got to remainprofessional because that'swhat the military is. They arethe force for the country, andthere's an attempt to not onlyuse them in these, in theseactions, like we were talkingabout earlier, but also thepotential whipping them intoshape in this meeting thatthey're having in Quanticotomorrow."

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