Pete Hegseth’s War on the Woke: Can He Fix America’s Broken Military?

It used to be that the military was the last bastion of meritocracy in America. You got promoted based on performance, competence, and whether you could lead under pressure—not because you checked a diversity box or penned the right buzzwords in your Evaluation report. But somewhere between the disastrous Afghanistan pullout and the rise of Pentagon PowerPoints filled with rainbow slides and pronoun primers, we lost the damn plot. And now, President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is being handed the Herculean task of cleaning up the mess.

Hegseth, a former Army veteran and FOX News personality has no shortage of critics, and his nomination has already sent X (formerly known as Twitter) into a conniption.

But love him or hate him, he’s got a point when he says the military has become a woke joke. Under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” we’ve started promoting people for optics rather than ability. And let me be clear: diversity is great—if it’s a byproduct of selecting the best, not the primary goal. The military doesn’t exist to make people feel included; it exists to win wars.

Take a hard look at what happened in Afghanistan. After two decades of blood, sweat, and treasure, the U.S. exited Kabul in a chaotic, humiliating retreat under President Biden’s watch.

The Taliban got their country back, complete with billions of dollars in American equipment, while we got a steady stream of tragic headlines about desperate Afghans clinging to C-17s. And who was held accountable for this disaster? Nobody. Not a single general resigned in disgrace. Not one bureaucrat faced consequences. The brass dodged the flak like it was part of their survival training.

Hegseth’s critics might call him unqualified or overly political, but if we’re honest, the Pentagon could use a guy who’s not afraid to ruffle feathers.

Our military’s leadership culture has turned into a game of CYA (Cover Your Ass), where bad decisions roll downhill and accountability is as rare as a private’s full night of sleep.

I’ve seen this firsthand in the SEALs, and it’s not pretty. Thankfully, Admiral (SEAL) Harward sent our problem child home before my platoon went to war. I wrote about it in The Red Circle.

A big part of the problem is the toxic culture of promotion.

Today’s officers are being groomed not to lead but to avoid making waves. They’re taught that their careers hinge on saying the right things at the right meetings and playing the diversity game with the right flair. But when the suicide drones start flying, nobody’s going to care if your commander can deliver a fucking TED Talk on gender inclusivity. They’re going to care if that person can bring their troops home alive and accomplish the mission.

The argument for restoring meritocracy isn’t about abandoning diversity; it’s about returning to a focus on what actually wins wars—competence, leadership, and grit. If the military continues down its current path, we risk hollowing out the institution from the inside. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines don’t want woke lectures; they want leaders they trust to make the right call when everything’s on the line.

Hegseth’s mission, if he’s confirmed, will be to remind the Pentagon what it’s supposed to be about. That starts at the top, with demanding accountability from senior leaders. If a private loses a rifle, they’re punished. If a general loses a war, they retire with a book deal and a seat on a defense contractor’s board and this has to change.

And yes, the road ahead will be messy. Fixing a broken culture isn’t easy, and Hegseth will have to navigate a minefield of political resistance. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop pretending the Pentagon’s problems can be solved with another DEI seminar. Maybe it’s time to focus on warfighting again.

Because at the end of the day, nobody cares about your pronouns when you’re taking enemy fire. The only thing that matters is whether the person next to you knows how to fight—and whether the person leading you knows how to win.