War Secretary Pete Hegseth praised West Point cadets for being “not an army of woke” as he delivered the commencement speech to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday.
In his first visit to the academy as a Trump administration official, Hegseth lambasted the prior administration’s preoccupation with diversity rather than military readiness.
Recommended Stories
“We must train exactly like we fight, and that means real, practical warfighting skills. It means lethality,” Hegseth said. “Let me be perfectly clear: you are not an army of one, and you are certainly not an army of woke. You are an American army, an army of warriors.”
“Four years ago, you raised your right hand and said, ‘Send me,'” he added, referencing the oath in their first year of school. “And today, as you join the ranks of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, we stand together as one army, and we say, ‘Send us.'”
The secretary specifically took issue with the phrase “our diversity is our strength,” calling it the “single dumbest phrase in military history.”
“We had generals saying this with a straight face on national television. It was absolute nonsense,” Hegseth said. “Now, these sorts of silly things can be laughed at when they occur in a civilian lounge or civilian faculty lounge or debated in graduate seminars, but they cannot be tolerated in our formation. These ideas are what get people killed.”
“Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength,” he continued. “The call is send us, not send he, not send she, not send they/them. It’s send us.”
Since taking office last year, Hegseth has led the charge against dismantling entrenched “woke” ideology at the Department of War. He also restricted instruction in critical race theory and gender ideology at West Point and other U.S. military academies.
Elsewhere in the commencement speech, the Cabinet member told West Point graduates, “You can’t throw your pronouns at the enemy.”
Apart from railing against diversity and bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., Hegseth said he and President Donald Trump will have the military’s back when it comes to split-second decisions on the battlefield.
The Pentagon chief then touted recent U.S. military actions, such as sinking the Iranian navy during wartime and capturing former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.
WATCH LIVE: HEGSETH DELIVERS WEST POINT COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Hegseth also poked fun at the Army, referencing the Army-Navy game in December that ended with a 17-16 win for the Navy.
“I know the Army loves sinking the Navy,” he said, but the Iranian navy is the “only navy you’re currently allowed to sink.”
