Hundreds of generals flew to Virginia to hear President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth โ though reactions werenโt exactly glowing.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling is now speaking out, and heโs not holding back.
On September 30, hundreds of generals and admirals from U.S. military bases around the world were called in for an emergency meeting of unclear purpose, according to The Washington Post.
The unusual directive forced senior leaders to travel from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia for a gathering that many feared could signal major cuts โ or even firings.
That Donald Trump would also speak did little to calm nerves.
โOverweight generals and admiralsโ
When the meeting finally kicked off at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth laid out his vision for the future of the forces.
He grabbed attention for his calls to end so-called โwokeโ practices in the military, targeting everything from female service members to beards.
โI donโt want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape or in combat units with females who canโt meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,โ Hegseth said.
The secretary also criticized what he called โoverweight generals and admiralsโ at the Pentagon and slammed Biden-era efforts to increase diversity in the military.
Unsurprisingly, both the speech and the meeting drew heavy criticism.
โMore like a press conference than briefing the generals,โ said a defense official, speaking anonymously to Politico over fears of retribution.
โCould have been an email.โ
Massive security risk
Critics also warned of the massive security risk in putting almost all of Americaโs top officers in the same room, and many dismissed Hegsethโs attempt to boost the militaryโs aggressive image through stricter grooming standards and ending diversity programs.
โItโs a waste of time for a lot of people who emphatically had better things they could and should be doing,โ a former senior defense official told Politico.
โItโs also an inexcusable strategic risk to concentrate so many leaders in the operational chain of command in the same publicly known time and place, to convey an inane message of little merit.โ
During the meeting, Donald Trump, true to form, covered a lot of ground in his public address โ including his now-infamous line about โtwo N words.โ (The second one, by the way, is nuclear.)
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant speaks out
Much of the criticism came anonymously โ but one voice stood out.
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling did not hold back.
He blasted Hegsethโs speech and even suggested that some leaders might have resisted the orders given, calling the address a violation of an unwritten code of military discipline.
Hertling is no ordinary military figure. From March 2011 to November 2012, he served as the Commanding General of United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army.
Speaking on MSNBC, Hertling said Trump was clearly โrattledโ by the reaction in the room. He also said Hegseth essentially asked the leaders to violate the oath of service they had taken.
โBut truthfully, those individuals will leave that room or left that room yesterday and theyโll start discussing and analyzing how they can implement some of the lawful orders that they got,โ Hertling explained.
โYou know, okay, great, we can buck up the standards. We can take a look at the kinds of things to get some soldiers, not all, certainly not even the majority, back in better shape. Take a look at what our ranks look like.
โBut there were also soldiers and, well, all ranks of services, in that audience that said, wait a minute.
โWhen they were writing down the same kind of checklist that I was writing down, saying, wait a minute, we canโt do that, or we shouldnโt do that, or this is a true violation of what we are as professionals or, hey, Iโve got women in my ranks who are performing admirably.
โThatโs the worst part of all thisโ
โWhy should I kind of lump them all together like the secretary did? Or Iโm certainly now going to debate with myself, what am I going to say if Iโm asked to go on the street and conduct illegal actions?โ
โAnd I guarantee you that the people in that audience will not execute illegal orders,โ he added.
Hertling, who had a distinguished military career, went on to explain the deeper issue.
โBut at the same time, all of them, not only were they personally embarrassed, but they were embarrassed for their services that had, you know, sit in that audience and listen to this kind of stuff.
โThatโs the worst part of all this.
โYou know, thereโs a saying in the military thatโs a great leadership dictum: โYou praise in public and you discipline in private.โ
โThis was a disciplinary approach in public with cameras, so the whole nation could see. And it was an attempt at separating the military institution from the people that they defend.โ
