A speech by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth emphasizing the value of military service, the warrior ethos, and revival of American military spirit under President Trump. Hegseth urges a generation to serve, praises renewed recruiting and readiness, criticizes prior administrations’ focus on 'politically correct' priorities, and celebrates Independence Day.
Chapters
Military service changed my life. It taught me about what it means to be selfless, what it means to fight alongside your fellow Americans for them to be laser focused on a mission. And it's the greatest thing I could have done with that period of time in my life where I could be doing a lot of other things. In every generation, you have to ask yourself the question, if not me, then who's it going to be? If not this generation, then we're passing the buck to the next generation. And so my challenge to this generation is, are you ready to step up? Are you ready to take the lead? Because generations before you, all the way back to the revolution, stood up for a principle, stood up for country, stood up for freedom, stood up against tyranny. And then they didn't just talk about it. Soldiers and warriors and others step up and grab a rifle, they should actually do something about it. They say, you have to come through me. If you want to take our freedom, you have to come through me. They did it then and they've done it in every successive generation. And, and are you able to step up to that task? You understand a purpose driven life. You understand principles larger than yourself, that our rights are endowed by a creator from government. You don't have freedom without those willing to defend it. Part of the reason you should serve today is that we're getting back to basics. And one of those basics is the warrior ethos. And we're not doing the politically correct, social justice, ideological stuff that previous administrations did. This is the back to basics of readiness, of accountability, of standards of lethality, and of war fighting with President Trump at the helm. We're going to have your back. We will have your back. When we ask you to do difficult things. You will be equipped with the best equipment in the world. You will be given a clear and narrow mission that's focused on our country and our country's interests. To be strong, to be tough, to be selfless, to be courageous, to be determined. Those are pretty principles of the warrior ethos. To finish the fight, we need that instilled in the veins of our warrior class of Americans who are willing to do really tough, really difficult things. And not because they're going to get a medal for it or they're going to be famous because of it, but it's because of the integrity and honor and duty that they have inside them that makes them a warrior. You see, the world looked at Joe Biden and felt like they could take advantage of America. We were chumps, we were weak, we were woke, we were focused on other things. They look at President Trump and they say, this is a guy who's serious, substantive, he's rebuilding the military, and I don't want to mess with him, because if I go sideways on America, I might just get the business end. So the revival of the American spirit, you see most directly in the revival of recruiting numbers. I mean, it was in the tank under Joe Biden, and now it's at historic highs. Tell me what changed? What changed is President Trump. What changed is belief in America. What changed is the military knows he has their back. The spirit is back. And you feel it. You feel it in the ranks. I get a chance to go see our troops. They're excited. They're proud to wear the uniform. It means a little more to them, knowing the kind of leadership that they have. That spirit obviously culminates at the Fourth of July on Independence Day, when we all celebrate our country. That's the kind of spirit that President Trump has revived. This we will defend. That's the motto of the Army. He's revived that spirit. There's no such thing as over the top on the 4th of July. When you consider what those men did 249 years ago in signing that declaration, they were signing their own death warrant. Yet we don't have this blessing without them. So buy more fireworks, make them bigger, buy more hot dogs, spend more time. Celebrate the Fourth of July. Do it big, because we are blessed to live in this country right now. I'm Pete Hegseth. I'm the Secretary of Defense. And may God bless our military and God bless our country.
