Vienna, Austria—The below opinion piece discusses how U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s poor decision-making continues to undermine military readiness. The piece is written by Gregory Cromwell, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired, a UOCAVA voter, resident of Austria, and Member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus.
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“Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting. [The United States] will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary to those who want to test us and try us,” – SECDEF Hegseth, Jan. 27, 2025.
On Day One, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced readiness would be his priority. But instead of focusing on readiness, he has:
- Focused on rooting out DEI initiatives designed to ensure we draw our service members from the largest and most diverse talent pool possible.
- Undermined operational security by disclosing details of ongoing operations in an unsecured Signal chat group that included a reporter.
- Wasted DoD resources on re-renaming bases in North Carolina and Georgia.
- Put party over country by wasting DoD resources, including nearly $50 million, by supporting the president’s birthday parade in Washington (which, incidentally, will also displace Vietnam Vets who traditionally remember the fallen at the Vietnam Memorial on June 14th).
Now, at the President’s behest, Pete Hegseth has, without the consent of the Governor of California, involved the U.S. military in what is clearly a local law enforcement issue. He federalized the California National Guard (stealing resources from the State of California) and sent Marines to Los Angeles, in potential violation of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
None of the aforementioned activities are in any way improving the readiness of the U.S. military and are, in fact, distractions if not downright illegal. Congressional Republicans need to step up and take their Constitutional duty of Executive Branch oversight seriously.
The American people deserve to know:
- How many hours of readiness training have been lost by units as they deal with the additional requirement to prepare for the president’s birthday parade?
- That standing around guarding federal buildings in Los Angeles detracts from the readiness of our forces (though the White House has been very unclear about what the federal military's role in Los Angeles is).
- The millions of Pentagon dollars that could be used to improve readiness are instead going to fund a parade and a show of political “toughness” in LA.
Time and again, Pete Hegseth demonstrates that he lacks even the most basic qualifications for the job of Secretary of Defense or possesses the intestinal fortitude required to tell the president that his impulses with respect to the military are bad for the country and bad for military readiness.
During Hegseth’s Senate confirmation hearing in January 2025, he testified, “Leaders -- at all levels -- will be held accountable, and warfighting and lethality -- and the readiness of the troops and their families -- will be our only focus.” Now, he must be held accountable for the damage already done by his poor leadership. For the good of our nation, Mr. Hegseth should acknowledge that he is in way over his head and have the courage to resign.
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U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check their voter registration status and request their ballot for any upcoming elections in their home voting state that they are eligible to vote in.
The VMF Caucus, proudly consisting of veterans, military family members, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes, has a membership of approximately 1,300 members located in dozens of countries.
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