A general pathos at Quantico

There they were, the top brass of America's military, filling in and taking their seats. Every man and woman in that room at Marine Corps Base Quantico had spent their lives proving their mettle under fire. They'd been tested by battle, by service, by leadership and proven by time. They had built their lives around order. They knew the lives of the soldiers, sailors and airmen under their command depend on control and strategy. And then, striding onto the stage, came chaos. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose flag belt buckle matched the enormous American flag backdrop behind him that played off the blue of his suit for the cameras, the former part-time entertainment TV channel host told the elite of America's military why they were there: To stop being woke. To apparently loosen rules against harassment and hazing. He was especially focused on grooming standards. "No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression," he told the officers. No more "fat generals and fat admirals." Hegseth, who likes to post videos of himself poorly doing pull-ups, talked a lot about increasing standards for physical fitness, and that women can't be expected to get a pass any more. Women serving in combat must meet the same "highest male standard" he said. This is probably news to the 154 women who have passed the rigorous Army Ranger school, meeting the same standards as their brothers in arms. To U.S Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both her legs when the Army helicopter she was piloting was shot down in Iraq, it's the same old story. "It's the exact message that he wants to send, which is you're not welcome here. They've been trying to basically push out any diversity in our military, which actually makes our military less capable, less ready to defend Americans," Duckworth said. "So, again, this man is not qualified to be Secretary of Defense, and it shows in every decision that he makes." "War does not care if you're a man or a woman," Hegseth said. "Neither does the enemy." On that, I agree with Hegseth. The enemy, for instance, does not care one bit if it's a man or a woman who sends out war plans on an unsecured Signal chat. I bet the enemy would think it's a bonanza when a boastful man does it more than once, adding his wife, a Fox News producer and his brother, none of whom had security clearances, the second time around, when he tells them all about an air strike in Yemen. That investigation is — allegedly — still ongoing. Hegseth is removing many well-educated and seasoned leaders in a "DEI purge." Women in the military's top jobs have been removed, including Air Force Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, the senior military assistant to the secretary of defense; Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, moved from her post as the first female superintendent of the Naval Academy in Annapolis; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first female chief of naval operations; and Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the sole female flag officer on NATO's Military Committee and the first female president of the Naval War College. He also saw to it that Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was fired too, after questioning for months if he "got the job because of his race." Brown, only the second Black general to serve in the role — Colin Powell was the first — was a highly-respected officer and pilot, but was targeted as Hegseth set about ridding "diversity and equity" in the ranks. Two short years ago our Senate confirmed Brown 83-11 to do the job. By February, two men agreed he only had the job because of his skin color. Isn't that wild? Hegseth's new clean-shaven grooming standards will purify the ranks, too. By effectively ending most permanent shaving waivers, men with chronic skin conditions — an issue that disproportionately affects Black men — could be kicked out of service altogether. Most waivers are given for soldiers diagnosed with pseudofollucilitus barbae (PFB), a condition in which hairs curl back into the skin after shaving, causing irritation, painful bumps and scarring. The American Osteopathic College of Dermatology estimates that up to 60 percent of Black men are affected. According to Department of Defense figures, at least 20 percent of active duty members are Black. How many are you willing to lose? Waivers are also given for religious exemptions, but under Hegseth's new directives, service members will be given options to seek out treatment — including lasering, which can permanently alter facial hair, facial pigmentation, or scar — and ground one from deployment, which is critical to promotion. So do you lose your career due to your faith, or a medical condition simply because of your race? And all that was just the warm-up act for his boss to tell the silent crowd he wanted them to use American cities as "training grounds" to brush up on their war skills to rampage around the globe. All blood and guts, these two. What do you expect from two unserious and yet deadly serious ratings-chasing TV hosts? "We're under invasion from within," President Donald Trump said, in between talking about wars he claims to have stopped before launching into talking about a war he's desperately trying to get started. "No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. In our inner cities — which we're going to be talking about because it's a big part of war now. It's a big part of war," the president of the United States said, listing Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in discussing his administration's intentions to turn the might of the American military on American citizens. I wonder what our enemies around the world thought of our "War" Department ordering the guardians to abandon the watchtowers around the globe for a lecture to make hazing great again. Contact Chronicle-Telegram columnist Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.