MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave what the Pentagon described as his “State of the Force” address on Wednesday afternoon to hundreds of troops exactly one year after he gave a similar speech in the same venue.

Roughly 600 activity-duty E-6 and O-3 service members attended Wednesday’s event. They were given a small black book titled The War Department as they walked in, featuring several of Hegseth’s most notable speeches as secretary, with a foreword from President Donald Trump. They started filing into the auditorium about 45 minutes before the event began, as country music played through the speakers.