Pete Hegseth is ready to put the military back on track. He’s got just the trick to do it.
And the U.S. military is hit with a major overhaul thanks to this order from Defense Secretary Hegseth.
Pentagon Under New Leadership: A Fresh Look at Military Standards
In a bold move this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth set the wheels in motion for a sweeping Pentagon review, targeting the armed forces’ physical fitness, body composition, and grooming rules. Announced on Wednesday, March 12, this directive signals a shift in tone from the previous administration, aiming to tighten up standards that some argue have softened in recent years.
Hegseth’s order follows a period under President Joe Biden’s leadership where the military rolled back restrictions on grooming, hairstyles, and body fat limits for recruits. These changes stirred debate, with critics claiming they diluted the rigor that defines America’s fighting force. Now, Hegseth is calling for a deep dive into those policies, seeking to realign them with a vision of discipline and unity.
“High standards are what made the United States military the greatest fighting force on the planet,” Hegseth wrote in a memo circulated to senior Pentagon officials, combatant commanders, and Department of Defense field directors. “The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose. We are made stronger and more disciplined with high, uncompromising, and clear standards.”
Leading the charge on this review is the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The scope is wide, covering everything from fitness benchmarks and body fat rules to grooming policies—like the contentious issue of beards.
The review won’t just catalog current standards; it’ll dig into how they’ve evolved over the past ten years, why those shifts happened, and what the fallout has been. “The review will also provide insight on why those standards changed and the impact of those changes,” Hegseth explained, empowering the under secretary to pull data from military branch secretaries as needed.
Hegseth framed the effort as a matter of national security. “We must remain vigilant in maintaining the standards that enable the men and women of our military to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force,” he said. “Our adversaries are not growing weaker, and our tasks are not growing less challenging.” The goal? To map out whether the military’s standards have held firm—or slipped—and chart a path forward.
Each military branch has long set its own bar for fitness and appearance. Beards, for instance, are typically off-limits unless a service member secures a medical or religious exception. But under Biden, the Army green-lit earrings and hair highlights for women, nail polish for men, and other tweaks pitched as steps toward diversity and inclusion. The Air Force, meanwhile, bumped up body fat caps for new recruits—men from 20% to 26%, women from 28% to 36%—easing entry for some but raising eyebrows among traditionalists.
Hegseth previewed this push last month at a Pentagon town hall, promising a Trump administration laser-focused on “basic stuff” like grooming and fitness. “I’m not saying if you violate grooming standards, you’re a criminal,” he explained. “The analogy is incomplete. But if you violate the small stuff and you allow it to happen, it creates a culture where the big stuff, you’re not held accountable for.” For Hegseth, it’s about the ripple effect: discipline in the details breeds discipline across the board.
Trump’s Vision: Stripping Wokeness from the Military
This review isn’t just about push-ups and haircuts—it’s a salvo in the Trump administration’s campaign to purge what they call “wokeness” from the U.S. military. Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his team have zeroed in on policies they see as prioritizing progressive ideals over combat readiness.
Hegseth, a vocal conservative and Fox News alum, embodies this mission, arguing that the military’s core purpose—winning wars—has been muddied by cultural shifts.
The administration’s beef with “woke” policies traces back to Biden-era moves like relaxing grooming rules and expanding diversity initiatives. Trump allies contend these changes pandered to political correctness, eroding the tough, uniform ethos that historically defined the armed forces.
Hegseth’s review is step one in reversing that tide, aiming to restore a no-nonsense culture where merit and lethality trump identity politics.
Beyond the Pentagon, Trump has pledged to overhaul military training, scrapping what he calls “social experiments” like mandatory diversity workshops.
He wants a force leaner, meaner, and focused solely on deterrence and dominance. Critics warn this could alienate younger, diverse recruits, but supporters cheer it as a return to principles that made the U.S. military so great in the first place.
For now, Hegseth’s review is the opening act—how far the curtain rises depends on what it uncovers.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
