America's Defense Department (DoD) is failing & has many failing policies & procedures & we desperately need enhanced acute massively more accountably by DoD! IMO, Pete Hegseth was the WRONG choice &

I am happy someone got confirmed but there are thousands of people way more qualified & more principled and character-laden than Hegseth e.g. Bellavia, congressional medal winner! This was a wrong

nomination and I can speak my mind on my stack and not because 47 nominated him means we surrender our independent thinking for ourselves. That we surrender critical thinking and shred ‘right vs wrong’ analysis.

First, I like you, wish full success of 47 and that he gets his nominations. However, at the least they should be in the best interest of USA. This DoD instance is not in best interest.

Hegseth is UNQUALIFIED to command any of the US troops ANYWHERE. Not because Trump ‘likes his look and tattoos’ means we have to. This is ridiculous.

How could Hegseth mention ‘meritocracy’? Accountability? He was not hired based on merit. And has not been accountable and if this is so, if he truly thinks this he should already step down. Again, we are being made a joke of. No matter how much you support 47, you know this is not a merit hire. Like the Surgeon General (SG) nomination, another joke on the US population.

I think this hire may potentially cause recruitment to go down and particularly among women? Let us see.

IMO Pete H is and was definitely unqualified, is almost Rumsfeld Jr. like, and has shown improper work ethics, improper personal behavior that we must never have in such a reporting or mentor leadership position e.g. a drinking problem (saying if confirmed you will not drink on the job etc. or stop drinking is sub-optimal and suggests you do have an issue) and mistreatment of women. There are jokes in social media that Hegseth must be given a "breathalyzer" before each decision. Is this where the US military has fallen to?

In a US military today, that has a serious problem with abuse and rape of women, this is staggering that POTUS would think this is the only and best person to lead the military. I have heard that Hegseth stated that women should not even be in the work force? Is this true? I am seeking the link. Folk like Ernst emerged as very disappointing in the defense of women. There are just some qualities that cannot be smudged and waived. Pete H has a problem with women as to power and abuse and mistreatment. It is well known and well reported. It is a very important issue. These are my views as much as I wanted Trump to get his nomination, just not this guy. Not for this role. It sends a terrible message. I think he makes Darth Vader ‘Austin’ look like an Ivy scholar…competent, when he was a pure idiot.

A management rookie with no real experience being in charge of an $800M military budget? What can go wrong?

I speak my mind.

It is not about ‘the look’ for me. The tattoos etc. I find it incredible this was posited as a reason POTUS chose this guy. It is not about FOX news to me. He is purely unqualified for the role no matter how much MAGA you are, I am MAGA, but I do not have my head up anyone’s ass, I am breathing and thinking clearly, and I want my stack to be my opinion and yours, unfettered. Pure. This is mine. You would be lying to yourself to say he is qualified.

Before going further, see this developing…

and now we are learning ‘the average hourly cost of operating a C-17 was about $21,000 and the average hourly cost of operating a C-130E was between $68,000 and $71,000. Based on these figures it can be estimated that the C-17 flight on Thursday that carried 80 migrants from El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City would have cost roughly $252,000. For the same 12-hour flight using the C-130E, it would cost between $816,000 and $852,000. In comparison, a flight directly chartered by DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement is $8,577, according to estimates posted by the agency.’ This means that soon we will learn that DHS is chartering ALL flights for many in the orbit will figure out how to MONITIZE this too and DHS will take it over. This new government is about making money money money for those ‘connected’. Of course, I want the most cost-effective, but it will always go to the most ‘connected’. This entire thing will turn on corruption. Always does.

Back to Hegseth:

IMO, the nomination was wrong and the confirmation, strained as it was, hobbled as it was, and now 51:50 with a tie breaker vote, is wrong. There are way too many people available for POTUS Trump to want ‘only’ this guy. Makes no sense. IMO has now further stained DoD.

If you say ‘he is the best’, then you are pretending to yourself to get a ‘win’. I would ask, based on what? This is wrong for there is way too much on the line. My reasons include he lacks the moral character to hold the role. He has been accused and actually did some very questionable and wrong bad behaviors. So much spin, so much hidden. We will never get an accounting. IMO he cannot and should not lead the women of the US military given his personal behavior e.g. rape allegations and some behavior that is clear cut abusive, and the fact is he is on record saying, “I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles.” I think he went as far as saying women should not be in the military, period. I will find the quote.

How could he lead women when he was involved in very questionable and deplorable behaviors? Against women. Multiple women. His own mother made devastating statements against him as to his treatment of women. Regardless of if she came back to try to clean up the mess on isle 7.

And now I have lost tremendous respect for Senator Joni Ernst who I met personally on Capitol Hill at the Senate and who is a victim of rape in the military etc. She has always spoken so very well and importantly about this plague on women and how disastrous it is and how much we must work to stamp it out. Rape in the US military. But you would confirm someone accused of rape that has never been properly litigated?

I am so very puzzled how the champion could do a 180. She Ernst was against the nomination so it will be great to know what POTUS Trump or whomever told her or what was presented to her in order for her t change her mind. IMO, she failed women. In the military. Failed women across USA. Seems there is a price for everything in DC. It is despicable. I thought Joni Ernst (the good Senator) would have stood for the women and demanded proper character and proper behavior etc. The utmost quality and character-laden to lead DoD. But alas, she fell. Who knows the reasons why she turned, and she decided his behavior was acceptable. Who knows? I do not. You? When prior she felt it was highly unacceptable.

I am happy he was confirmed for I did not want Trump to get that defeat, I want Trump to get his cabinet in place, but this was wrong. Of his choosing. But no matter how you argue it. One minute you are a commentator on FOX News, next minute you are heading the DoD, because Trump says so? Where is the merit base? No one can say this administration is steep in merit for what we are seeing in these nominations says NOT so. I challenge you to show me merit thus far. These picks are worst IMO than Obama’s and his were terrible.

As a part-time national guardsman, Pete H lacks the high level (even low level) experience, the tactical, operational, strategic and geopolitical experience needed to lead DoD. You may fudge the tactical, but you need to fudge big and lie to yourself that he has the expertise and experience to lead the DoD. The role cannot come with on the job ‘learn as you go’ training. I am sorry. Not this role. This IMO is a joke, a FOX news joke. This is as bad as the pick for Surgeon General (SG). ‘You got the look’…is this what America is reduced to?

He said in his book there are “irreconcilable differences between the left and the right in America leading to perpetual conflict that cannot be resolved through the political process.” He has to tell us how then he would reconcile the difference. Is it war? violence? If not for the political process, the ballot box, where we settle these difference etc., then how do we resolve it?

His positions on gender roles in the military could cause a recruitment disaster. What would we do with the 22% of women in high-level combat roles e.g. jet fighter pilots and they perform at same level or even better than many males in similar roles. His is clear, he does not want women in combat, in the military etc. Why did he pay off the woman who accused him of rape? Why was there a non-disclosure agreement? While married he also had a child with a FOX producer?

Look, it is ridiculous that he represents the best military commander for DoD. You have your view, and I have mine. If yours is based on giving Trump his ‘win’ then this is very wrong. You have basically vacated the merit and integrity that these decisions must be based upon. IMO.

That said, I wish DoD success under this Secretary. The world is on fire. Pete H brings less skills and expertise that Darth ‘Lloyd Austin’ Vader (and he was purely an inept incompetent idiot) so Pete H may be well advised to keep him on a bit longer for some training.