US ‘War’ secretary throws out the rules of engagement

Pete Hegseth, the freshly minted US secretary of war, certainly seems to think so. Hegseth, belying his modest military career, which peaked at the rank of major in the National Guard, called the 800 most senior admirals, generals and non-commissioned officers with field command in the US military to an unprecedented meeting just outside Washington on Wednesday.

No one knew what the meeting was about, despite the secretary summoning the most senior people from Japan in the east to Hawaii in the west at less than a week’s notice. Was there to be a declaration of war? Would all of those present be required to sign loyalty oaths to the president, rather than uphold the constitution of the United States? Would there be mass firings of apparently disloyal leaders?

In the event, Secretary Hegseth settled for channelling his inner Patton. He looked like someone who had studied George C Scott’s opening monologue from the 1970 movie Patton and resolved to live by what he saw. “I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country,” was Scott’s opening sally. Hegseth warmed to the theme.

So far as we know, Patton never actually said those lines, though he said plenty of other salty things. But in the modern world, where pretence is reality, the Hollywood version is compelling. “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don’t hurt anyone’s feelings leadership ends right now,” declared Hegseth.

Hegseth also ordered a review of “the department’s definitions of toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing”. Patton would probably have approved, having beaten two enlisted soldiers in Sicily in 1943 for what they said was shell shock and he viewed as cowardice. Eisenhower disciplined Patton for the offence, but Hegseth says now that these things should not blight careers.

The secretary of war also tightened disciplinary standards on senior officers. “Fat generals and admirals walking around the Pentagon is not a good look,” he said. There will be weigh-ins twice a year and fitness standards will be enforced.

Part of the drive towards this “warrior ethos” will be a tightening of the rules on performance. All recruits will be required to meet the highest standards of strength and endurance set for male soldiers. That’s clearly going to make life harder for women, who have on average less upper-body strength than men, but they are not the only target. The secretary is going to outlaw beards in the military. “No more beardos!” he rejoiced. “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans.”

Beards are mostly already banned, but there are exceptions for religious reasons or temporary exemptions for medical conditions such as shaving rashes. It’s interesting to note that the ethnic group most susceptible to these skin conditions is not white men.

Woke is clearly out, to no one’s surprise. But perhaps the most chilling aspects of Hegseth’s oration were on the future conduct of war. “We will unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralise, hunt and kill the enemies of our country.”

These laws of war were forged internationally after centuries of horrific brutality, particularly to try to protect civilians. It’s all fair game now, apparently. Who knows where that leads.

If Americans believe that war is what will happen to other people, a warning came from President Trump at the same meeting. The president said that he wanted to use US cities as training grounds for the military, putting down “the enemy within”.

Patton believed he had lived as a warrior many times, mostly in modest infantry roles. A Greek hoplite, a soldier in Alexander’s army, an English knight. The most famous historical figure he believed he had been was Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who took on Rome.

Hannibal was known for brutal tactics, contaminating Roman water supplies in early biological warfare, throwing baskets of venomous snakes into enemy ships, sacrificing weak troops to engulf the enemy. He was said to be the inspiration for Machiavelli’s line: “It is better to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both.”

Whether the modern Patton striding the Quantico stage this week was feared is hard to tell. He was received in silence, as is the convention when politicians address the US military. But none I spoke to afterwards gave a sense that the new secretary of war would live up to his past lives and sweep across Europe in a blaze of glory.

Photograph by Andrew Harnik/AP. Other picture Twentieth Century Fox Films Corp/Alamy