It's not surprising that given a choice between {serving the needs of the military} and {serving the needs of the administration}, he defaulted to the latter.
1. Limit what was shared in the Signal group to non-operational details and refer all involved to their secured systems.
2. Make it easier for everyone else and just post the details directly in the chat.
He chose the one that he thought would curry favor with other members of the administration.
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Being a Major in the Minnesota Army National Guard.
And the following Overseas deployments:
- Guantanamo Bay (2004-2005): He served as a second lieutenant with a security platoon, guarding detainees.
- Iraq (2005-2006): He deployed with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, serving as an infantry platoon leader in Baghdad and later as a civil-military operations officer in Samarra.
- Afghanistan (2011-2012): He served as a captain and senior counterinsurgency instructor at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul.
Awards
Hegseth earned two Bronze Star Medals for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a Combat Infantryman Badge, which recognizes soldiers who have directly engaged in ground combat. He also received two Army Commendation Medals and the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, along with Expert Infantryman and Combat Infantryman badges.
His military career spanned from 2002 to 2021, including active duty and time in the Individual Ready Reserve.
In addition to his military service, Hegseth holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Princeton University and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, which complement his practical experience with academic credentials relevant to leadership and policy.
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You can argue he’s good at the job or bad at the job.
I would have no issue if you said he was completely incompetent.
But saying that hs a ‘primary qualification is being a yes man’ is a ridiculous laughable argument.
If he was the only reserve O-4 with combat experience we could find to serve as Secretary of Defense, then yes, that would be a primary qualification.
Given the rank, that's ridiculous. Ergo his primary qualification is something else.
Not you, but many others were arguing at the time that his primary qualification was ‘being a Fox News anchor’, which is infuriating. It’s not - it’s his military service. There are many people that are Fox News anchors, none of them were eligible for the job because they do not have a military record.
I have no argument with claiming he won the job because of his connections.
William J. Perry (94-97, 2+5yr Army)
William Cohen (97-01)
Robert Gates (06-11, 2yr AF)
Leon Panetta (11-13, 2yr Army)
Chuck Hagel (13-15, 1yr Army)*
Ash Carter (15-17)
Who do you have in mind? Carter, Cohen, and Cheney were the only confirmed secretaries from the past 40 years who fit "no military experience".
There are a handful of recent secretaries with < 5 years of military experience who did not even reach the rank of Captain (e.g. Rumsfeld, Robert Gates, Panetta, Perry).
To be clear: I agree with you that military experience is not really a qualification for the job, unless the individual has achieved high enough rank (i.e. General) to be involved in strategic planning. And certainly most secretaries of defense don't have that (Austin and Mattis are quite rare on that front, doubly so because they needed congressional waivers to serve in the position while still being active-duty military).
Trump saw him and liked him on TV
Trump made him SecDef
There are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people with a similar or greater military record.
There are probably less than a dozen who have a clearer record of being a yes-man (by virtue of very few people being on TV to begin with, and even fewer willing to rhetorically fellate POTUS unconditionally)
You intersect the two and you get Hegseth, but the criterion that did the heavy lifting is absolutely the yes-man one.
"...a ridiculous laughable argument"
Right back at you.