'Jagoff' Hegseth

[Vrede too]

Worse than initially reported.


Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.

The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hegseth’s decision to intervene in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House, the nine U.S. officials familiar with the situation said.

“There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth,” one of the U.S. officials said.

Putin's orders.

[GoCubsGo]

Putin's orders.

I think the racist and misogynistic part is all us.

[GoCubsGo]

That is what I was wondering, someone had to write this for him.

[Vrede too]

That is what I was wondering, someone had to write this for him.

https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/2045208170436411421

Or, "His entire team" are stupid jagoffs.

[GoCubsGo]

Someone is sorry they got out of bed.

[Vrede too]

Someone is sorry they got out of bed.

https://x.com/HannahBrandt_TV/status/20 ... 1411124631

Code Pink rocks!

He's being grilled live on MS NOW and likely several other outlets.

[Vrede too]

‘This is just disarray’: alarm inside Pentagon after Hegseth staff purges

... Now – after an unprecedented wave of firings that has been compared by some to Stalin’s purges – the Pentagon top brass no longer seem like such a reliable bulwark.

Putin’s purges.

Since Trump returned to office in January last year, Pete Hegseth, the rumbustious defense secretary who has made it his mission to remake a military ethos he denounced as “woke”, has fired or forcibly retired 24 generals and senior commanders, with no performance-related reason given.

rumbustious: boisterous

About 60% have been Black or female, an approach seemingly driven by the administration’s proclaimed onslaught against “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hires”.

Yet the officers forced out have had impeccable reputations. The most recent victim was Gen Randy George, the army chief of staff, ousted last month reportedly after he refused to obey Hegseth’s instruction to strike four officers – two Black men and two women – from a list of prospective promotions.

... In interviews with the Guardian, insiders have portrayed Hegseth – a former Fox News host known for combative public appearances and an aggressive stance towards journalists – as increasingly isolated within the Pentagon’s sprawling bureaucracy and surrounded by a small coterie of close friends and relatives.

Some say he expresses fear and paranoia about Trump firing him from a job for which critics say his background as a former national guard infantry major with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan is inadequate qualification....

GoCubsGo and O Really are hopeful.

[GoCubsGo]

This is unsettling on so many levels.


Army cuts training as service is short billions of dollars

The Army is grappling with a sudden budget crunch and scrambling to slash training costs across broad swaths of the force, according to internal documents reviewed by ABC News and multiple U.S. officials.

The move is to make up for a shortfall of some $4 billion to $6 billion, according to one of the officials, as the service has drastically expanded its operational footprint at home and abroad.

The cuts, which range from elite schools to unit-level training, have triggered a wave of abrupt cancellations and unusually aggressive spending scrutiny months before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The service's multibillion-dollar shortfall is the product of a widening set of operational demands and rising costs across the force.

Major drivers, a U.S. official noted, have been costs associated with the Iran war and an expanding mission securing the southern U.S. border.

Additionally, expansive National Guard missions, including the ongoing deployment in Washington, D.C., which alone is projected to cost roughly $1.1 billion this year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

At the same time, the service is absorbing ballooning personnel expenses and stepping in to cover missions tied to Department of Homeland Security funding lapses, including at the southern border and construction projects. The Army is expected to be reimbursed for covering down for some of DHS' expenses incurred during the record 76-day DHS shutdown.

The Army's III Armored Corps, an umbrella of the Army's heavy armor and cavalry units, is expected to bear a lot of the brunt, a document outlining projections to units on consequences of funding cuts shows.

That internal plan warns that the corps' aviation units will deploy next year at "a lower state of readiness," and "career stagnation" of mid-level officers who would oversee key training events and noted it would take a full year for units to rebuild "combat proficiency."

[Vrede too]

This is unsettling on so many levels.


Army cuts training as service is short billions of dollars

GoJagoffGo