“It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world,” said our fit Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Tuesday.
“It’s a bad look.”
Yes it is.
And nearly every member of today’s military has seen that bad look, firsthand.
When I joined the U.S. Navy in 1999, the Pentagon only had one elevator, and it was for the Secretary of Defense.
Today, when you visit the five-sided puzzle palace, there are elevators in every corridor. And worst of all, parked outside many are Little Rascal mobility scooters—it looks like a scene from Disney’s “Wall-E” movie where humans get so fat they can hardly function.
Ask any sailor, soldier, and airman about doing a physical fitness test with a senior officer. You’ll likely hear about chicken-neck pushups, slow runs, failed weigh-ins, and test administrators who look the other way.
After all, who is going to tell a four-star general or admiral that he looks sloppy in his uniform or that his pushups weren’t pushups at all?
Our Secretary of War, that’s who.
In Trump’s War Department, leadership starts at the top.
Biden’s tubby Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wasn’t about to tell General Mark Milley that he was overweight. The troops knew General Milley didn’t meet the standard. The press knew Milley was fat. The public knew it, too. There’s a reason the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs preferred his roomy, baggy camouflage uniform, even in the halls of the Pentagon.
Sadly, the physical unfitness of senior officers, particularly generals, during extended periods of peace has long been a tell-tale sign of complacency and dangerous loss of touch with the realities of combat. That includes the Roman legions in the later Roman Empire and the French Army before the Franco-Prussian War.
It’s not just the top brass punching new holes in their belts.
In my own experience in the Navy over the past 26 years, I’ve found that many of my youngest sailors are the most out of shape: overweight, under-exercised, at ease in fitness standards relaxed since the days of COVID.
“Don’t let the old captain pass you!” I’ve yelled at kids on the track—and, yet, sadly, I’ve lapped young sailors less than half my age.
Some argue that fitness and weight standards aren’t really important in a modern military. These critics have clearly never been to a war zone or worried whether they can count on their buddy to drag them to safety and whether their buddy can count on them.
Fitness matters. Standards matter. When a Marine says, “No better friend, no worse enemy,” it is believable just looking at most Marines, who are models of fitness. That outlook and the discipline that backs it are key to “credible deterrence,” which is supposed to permeate America’s national security strategy from bottom to top.
According to a recent study by the America Security Project, an estimated 70 percent of our troops are overweight or obese—a figure that is threatening our entire force.
The Secretary of War is right to start at the top and demand accountability.
He’s right to call a spade a spade and fat shame the top brass.
When I was a freshly minted young officer, my first Navy admiral, who later went on to become an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Greg Slavonic, told me, “Never walk by a mistake.” He meant if you see something out of order or amiss, it’s your job as an officer to make sure it’s addressed.
How refreshing to see the Secretary of War refuse to walk by a mistake.
Morgan Murphy is military thought leader, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense and national security advisor in the U.S. Senate.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot via X/@SecDef)
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
