Pete Hegseth has confirmed plans to cut 20% of US military generals and admirals, telling troops at a Marine Corps base on Wednesday that “no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps” will be tolerated inside the military.
The move follows a lengthy deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where eight US navy personnel attempted suicide during a nearly nine-month tour. The ship was deployed for almost nine months, with about “80% of the force” retained on board, according to Hegseth. The crew disembarked on 1 September in a Thai resort city.
Lincoln Deployment Details
The USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed amid Trump’s war on Iran, and the crew was originally scheduled to wrap their deployment in May. The deployment was extended, pushing the sailors beyond their expected return home.
Eight service members attempted suicide since the start of the deployment. The crew was retained on board during the extension, with about “80% of the force” staying with the ship throughout.
Hegseth dismissed reports of low morale within the US armed forces as “false claims” during his speech. He referenced the Lincoln while attacking the media, saying there are “disingenuous headlines about deployment lengths, patently false claims of low troop morale, or flat-out propaganda.”
Officer Corps Cuts
The 20% reduction targets the senior ranks of the military. Generals “who clung to the woke department, or seemed to think civilian control of the military is simply a suggestion, well, they no longer work here,” according to Hegseth.
He declared that “the complainers, the ideologues and the poor performers are no longer in the driver’s seat.” The focus in military formations should be “training, readiness, accountability, discipline and lethality,” he added.
The cuts target officers who held onto “woke” positions or appeared to treat civilian control of the military as optional. Hegseth framed the change as a cleanup of leadership that had drifted from its core duties.
Speech at Quantico
Hegseth spoke at the Marine Corps Base on Wednesday, delivering a wide-ranging address that touched on multiple fronts. He attacked the media and universities while announcing new Pentagon partnerships.
He also announced a new Pentagon project involving Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich. Luckey’s company, Anduril Industries, has received billions in government contracts over the last year, per The Guardian.
The partnership brings together three figures with ties to the Trump administration. Luckey is a top Trump donor and ally whose company has secured significant federal funding.
University Partnerships
Hegseth branded Ivy League universities and liberal arts colleges as “DEI-worshipping woke factories.” He made the remark even though he is a graduate of Harvard and Princeton Universities.
The Pentagon will now partner with other institutions as part of its educational pipeline. The list includes Liberty University and Hillsdale College, along with Louisiana State University, Mississippi University, and Tuskegee University.
The move puts the Pentagon in direct partnership with conservative-leaning institutions. The list spans public universities and historically Black colleges, with each school carrying a distinct political profile.
Standards List
During his speech, Hegseth laid out a blunt set of criteria for who gets to serve in the military:
- No beardos
- No weirdos
- No wimps
- No fatties
- No trannies
- No radicals
- Just warriors
The language is direct, and it reflects a leadership style that emphasizes discipline over diversity. The list is a statement of intent from a Pentagon official who wants the military to signal a particular kind of toughness.
What This Means
The combination of moves puts significant pressure on the military’s officer corps. A 20% cut to generals and admirals, paired with a purge of those who hold “woke” positions, amounts to a reordering of the senior ranks.
Hegseth’s dismissal of suicide attempts as “false claims” while the Lincoln crew was still deployed is a striking position. He framed the deployment’s difficulties as media exaggeration rather than a genuine concern for the sailors involved.
The partnership with Anduril Industries adds another layer. A company that has received billions in government contracts is now working directly with the Pentagon on unspecified projects, with Luckey’s political connections serving as the bridge.
The university partnerships reinforce the shift. By aligning the Pentagon’s educational pipeline with conservative institutions, the military is moving closer to a narrower set of ideological partners.
Bigger Picture
Hegseth is reshaping the officer corps while attacking universities and the press. He is also partnering with a Trump ally’s company that has received billions in government contracts.
This is a concentration of political power within the Pentagon that favors private contractors and conservative institutions. The pattern is consistent: attack the media, attack the universities, and build partnerships with allies.
The Lincoln deployment provides the backdrop for this shift. A ship deployed for nearly nine months, with eight sailors attempting suicide, is being used as evidence of a media conspiracy rather than a human tragedy.
The cuts to generals and admirals are real. The partnerships are real. The university pipeline is real. The question is whether the military can remain a professional institution when its leadership is defined by a list of banned categories and a set of disapproved universities.
The Lincoln’s sailors deserve better than to be dismissed as part of a media conspiracy. They served for almost nine months, and eight of them tried to take their own lives. That is not a headline — it is a loss.
The Pentagon should be asking how to prevent that from happening again, not how to explain it away.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs the troops and sailors who served aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln through a long deployment and is against the Pentagon and its leaders, including Pete Hegseth, who have shown little regard for the human cost of their wars while cutting ranks and mocking those who serve. Eight US navy personnel attempted suicide during the nearly nine-month tour, and Hegseth dismissed such reports as “false claims” in his speech.
The paper opposes agencies that gather power and write their own authority, and it opposes offices that mock the human cost of war. The Lincoln deployment should have been a moment of reflection for Pentagon leaders — instead it became a target for dismissal and mockery.
The paper wants Pentagon leaders to face the human cost of their wars honestly, not dismiss it as media exaggeration. It wants the officer corps to be judged on competence and character, not on a list of banned categories like “beardos” and “weirdos.” It wants partnerships with universities and contractors to be open and transparent, not built on private connections.
Source material: “Pete Hegseth confirms cutting 20% of US military generals and admirals,” The Guardian.
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