US Edition'War From Within,' End of Beards, Stricter Physical Tests: Trump and Hegseth Unveil New Direction for US Military
The new military policy ends diversity initiatives and enforces male-only fitness benchmarks while removing leaders opposing the changes, officials said.
- On Oct 1, 2025, former President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth convened at the Pentagon, outlining a controversial shift to drop gender and racial considerations in the armed forces.
- Hegseth called the military `Woke Department` and defended removing senior officers, including the top US general and Navy's top admiral , citing a broken culture.
- No-Beard and male-only fitness benchmarks were announced as part of a stricter grooming and fitness push at the made-for-TV Quantico event where generals and admirals gathered.
- The event was quickly condemned by Democrats and other critics, and a leading Democratic senator warned it suggested loyalty to a person over the Constitution while military leaders faced scrutiny after Trump threatened firings Tuesday.
- Over the past eight months the Pentagon has seen blistering changes, and earlier this month Trump signed an order renaming it the `Department of War`, with National Guard deployments to Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
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'War from within,' end of beards, stricter physical tests: Trump and Hegseth unveil new direction for US military
Before nearly 800 generals and admirals, the US president and his defense secretary laid out their vision for a military purged of its 'woke' elements. Its primary mission would now be to combat enemies from within, starting with Democrat-led cities.
‘No more beardos’ and ‘fat generals’ can resign if they don’t like agenda, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth tells military leaders
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth decried “fat generals” and diversity initiatives that he said led to decades of decay in the military and told a rare gathering of commanders yesterday they should resign if they don’t support his agenda.
Pete Hegseth bet against "fat" soldiers, Donald Trump begs for applause: A gathering of U.S. military from all over the world becomes a bizarre spectacle.
US President Donald Trump and his office have long railed against so-called "woke" ideologies - efforts to incorporate topics such as racial equality, gender identity and inclusion. These issues were the focus of a meeting Tuesday with hundreds of US officers and generals hastily convened in Virginia by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from around the world.
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