Pentagon calls Mark Milley 'corpulent' as it kicks off review of physical fitness and grooming standards
Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot lobbed a shot at the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, as he explained Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's new review of physical fitness and grooming standards.
"Unfortunately, the U.S. military's high standards on body composition and other metrics eroded in recent years, particularly during the tenure of former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, who set a bad example from the top through his own personal corpulence. Secretary Hegseth is committed to restoring high standards, and this review is the first step in doing so," Ullyot said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The Pentagon revoked Milley's security detail and clearance in late January.
The review comes after the secretary has voiced concerns that fitness standards have eroded, and questioned whether mismatched standards for men and women are affecting readiness.
The memo specifically calls out protocols for beards.
It directs the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to look at "existing standards set by the Military Departments pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming, which includes but is not limited to beards."
The memo directs the review to examine how standards have changed since 2015.
"Our troops will be fit – not fat. Our troops will look sharp – not sloppy. We seek only quality – not quotas," Hegseth wrote in a post on X late on Wednesday.
"That will be part of one of the first things we do at the Pentagon – is reviewing that in a gender-neutral way – the standards ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center," Hegseth promised in January.
In December 2015, the military opened up all combat roles to women. In a podcast interview shortly before he was tapped as secretary, Hegseth said the U.S. "should not have women in combat roles." But during his confirmation hearing, he clarified that in ground combat roles, women should have to meet the same standards as men.
"Whether it is a man or woman, they have to meet the same high standards," he said. "In any place where those things have been eroded, or courses or criteria have been changed to meet quotas . . . that's the kind of review I'm talking about. Not whether women should have access to ground combat."
The review could possibly lead to changes to the Army Combat Fitness Test, which is currently scored under age- and gender-specific requirements. That became the Army's standard fitness test in 2023, after decades of a physical fitness test that imposed the same standards on men and women.
The current test requires men ages 17-21 to run two miles in 22 minutes, and women of the same age to do it in 23 minutes and 22 seconds.
The service branches began making accommodations for recruits who don't meet physical fitness standards in recent years as a way to address the recruiting crisis. The Army and Navy offered pre-boot camp training for those who did not meet physical fitness or testing scores. But those recruits had to meet the same standards in order to graduate from training courses and serve.
"When I was in the Army, we kicked out good soldiers for having naked women tattooed on their arms, and today we are relaxing the standards on shaving, dreadlocks, man buns, and straight-up obesity," Hegseth wrote in his book 'The War on Warriors.'
"Piece by piece, the standards had to go ... because of equity," he added.
The service branches have begun allowing troops to sport different hairstyles, in large part due to female service members who argued that the constant tight, low bun was leading to hair loss. In recent years, the Army has begun allowing cornrows and twists after female service members argued that the hairstyles were cheaper and easier to maintain.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Reporter says she was fired from Trump-friendly outlet after criticizing Hegseth
The former chief Pentagon correspondent for conservative outlet One America News Network (OANN) said she was fired from her position after criticizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Substack post on Memorial Day. A self-described 'MAGA girl,' Gabrielle Cuccia began her post last week by stressing that 'I was (and still am) unapologetically defiant in my support for President Trump.' But she tore into the president's top Pentagon appointee, criticizing Hegseth for his new rules blocking reporters' access to areas of the Pentagon, saying the 'real' leaks at the Defense Department 'haven't come from the press. They've come from Hegseth's own team and other senior officials.' 'Let's call this what it is: limiting freedom of movement in the name of 'national security,'' she wrote in the Substack about the new access restrictions. 'The Pentagon wants to paint a picture that journalists are freely roaming classified spaces, sneaking into SCIFs, and leaking top-secret information. And that is simply not true,' she wrote. 'There are security cameras everywhere, protocols in place and quite frankly, it would be painfully obvious if a reporter was in a space they didn't belong.' She defended other reporters at the Pentagon and the work they do. 'It's pretty obvious how I feel about fake news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC,' she wrote, adding, however, that, 'I also watched, and continue to watch, the Pentagon beat reporters for those other networks. I see the stories they publish. I read their questions.' 'And while I think their obsession with advocating for transgender inclusion in the military is a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources — I can still confidently say that these reporters are not a national security threat,' she added. Cuccia also blasted Hegseth for failing to hold press conferences and said Hegseth's team contacted her in advance 'for the one and only press briefing conducted' to ask what questions she planned on asking. 'Over at the White House, the Administration understands the freedom of the press, and keeps the door open anyway. And they would certainly not field questions *before* said press briefing,' she added. Shortly after the fiery Substack post, Cuccia said she was no longer employed at OANN. 'By Friday,' Cuccia said, according to The Associated Press, 'I was out of a job.' DOD did not pull Cuccia's credentials, according to the AP, which cited an anonymous Defense official. OAN's president told the AP he would not discuss personnel matters. Cuccia told the AP that OAN told her that the Substack piece had been 'put on their radar,' but declined to elaborate further and would not detail discussions she had with her former employer. 'When a reporter asks inconvenient questions about government overreach, the response should be accountability — not silence, and certainly not separation,' Cuccia said, the AP reported. The Hill has reached out to Cuccia and OAN.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Meet Doc Holliday: The blue heeler starring in the Army's 250th anniversary parade
As the nation gets ready for a big military parade on June 14, held to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, there is one unexpected guest star of the parade — a 2-year-old blue heeler named Doc Holliday. Named after a character in the movie Tombstone, the dog is a cherished member of the Horse Cavalry Detachment, an equestrian military unit posted at Fort Cavazos, Texas. The Horse Cavalry Detachment was activated in 1972 and is a subordinate unit of the 1st Cavalry Division. Doc joined the detachment as a young puppy more than two years ago, according to Army Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for the III Armored Corps. The unit, mostly used to support public relations and recruiting efforts, includes a wagon pulled by two mules, per ABC News. Sztalkoper said Doc is a playful dog, but he 'knows his place very well when it's time for the parade.' From the back of the unit's wagon, Doc has participated in several ceremonies and parades. In fact, Doc has participated twice in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. This is not the first time Doc has been included in a big parade lineup. He traveled to Washington, D.C., to be in the inaugural parade this past January, but when the inauguration moved indoors, Doc missed his chance, per The Washington Post. But this time around, Doc is set to take the spotlight as Army officials said the parade is a 'rain-or-shine event,' the Post reported. Doc will be marching alongside 6,700 soldiers, 28 M1 Abrams, 28 Stryker vehicles, a World War II-era B-25 bomber, 34 horses, six Paladin self-propelled howitzers and two mules, per The New York Times. The parade is set for June 14, which not only marks the Army's 250th anniversary but also Flag Day and President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. Even though it's been two years in the making, it wasn't until after Trump's inauguration that officials began to explore options to make the event bigger with a parade. Army spokesman Steve Warren said they want it to be a national, global, and 'even interstellar' event, as Army Col. Anne McClain, now serving on the International Space Station, will be phoning in, per The New York Times. Designed to tell the history of the Army from the Revolutionary era to World War II, as well as to showcase uniforms from every past U.S. conflict, the parade will go for about a mile from Constitution Avenue to the Washington Monument. At the end of the parade, the Army's Golden Knight parachutists will descend near the Ellipse and present Trump with a folded flag. Additionally, the president will enlist and reenlist 250 recruits and soldiers. The last big military parade, the National Victory Celebration parade, was held in the U.S. capital to celebrate the conclusion of the Gulf War in 1991. According to The Washington Post, that parade cost $8 million, or almost $19 million in today's money. Trump's parade is set to cost between $25 million to $45 million, according to Army officials. Army officials expect about 200,000 attendees. People can request free tickets, two per person.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Europeans map out Pacific aims as some in US want them to stay home
SINGAPORE — At the end of Pete Hegseth's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's largest defense summit, America's defense secretary argued some members of the crowd should focus elsewhere. 'We would much prefer that the overwhelming balance of European investment be on that continent,' he said during a question and answer session. Hegseth's response addressed one of the core themes at a conference typically focused on Asian security alone. Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, more Europeans have traveled to Singapore each year as a symbol of their commitment to the region, seen as increasingly important to their own. Until this January, the United States welcomed that attention — but no longer. In the second Trump administration, parts of America's government have grown more skeptical of a European military presence around Asia. Some policy officials in the Pentagon have actively discouraged it. Instead, the conference last week featured a record number of Europeans in attendance and was headlined by French President Emmanuel Macron. While there, a wide share of officials from both regions defended Europe's role in Asia, something even Hegseth acknowledged in his remarks. The challenge, officials said, will be defining that role at a time when Europeans see the two regions as increasingly linked and when the United States wants its allies focused on their own backyards. 'This is a convergence zone right now,' said Gilberto Teodoro, the Philippines secretary of national defense, in an interview. 'This is the first Shangri-La Dialogue where we see a lot of European advocacy and a lot of American advocacy.' Last year at the conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit and met with America's then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. For many in attendance, the appearance emphasized a new sense that the two regions shared a common sense of security. North Korea was sending troops to fight alongside Russia, China was supplying much of the Kremlin's war machine and the West's response to Russia's invasion was thought to be a show of force against similar action around Taiwan. 'If we consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any concern, without any reaction of the global order, how would you phrase what would happen in Taiwan,' Macron said in his keynote speech last Friday. Until January, this had also become the dominant view in Washington, pushing its allies in Europe to take the threat of China more seriously while also helping defend Ukraine. In the last year, countries from Britain to Italy have sent naval vessels to the Indo-Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait, as a show of their own military commitment to the region. That demand signal collapsed with the election of Donald Trump, whose Pentagon has since called for Europe to take a far larger burden in defending the continent to allow America's military to focus more on the Pacific. That said, Hegseth himself left open a role for European militaries around Asia as part of a larger effort to deter China — something American military leaders have said is a key advantage. 'There is something to be said for the fact that China calculates the possibility and does not appreciate the presence of other countries on occasion,' Hegseth said. 'If that is reflected in their calculus, then that's useful.' A U.S. defense official, speaking with traveling press on the condition of anonymity, said that the answer is obvious. 'They're clearly concerned about European presence,' the official said of Beijing. Some allies at the conference agreed with Hegseth's message that Europe should primarily focus on the defense of the continent. Finland's Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen, for example, listed the main concerns it country has with its own security: an 800-mile border with Russia and competition around the Arctic and Baltic Sea. 'That's why our role in the Indo-Pacific Area cannot be so big,' he said in an interview. Still, Häkkänen came to Singapore to meet with partners such as Singapore and South Korea about Finland's defense industry and intelligence sharing. Both are natural areas to cooperate, he argued, even if his country wouldn't commit major military forces to the region. Sweden's defense Minister Pål Jonson attended the conference with a similar message on partnering with intelligence and weapons sales, he said. But he also came to stress why countries in the region should care about what happens in Ukraine. 'We are here also to make the case: Why it is important to stand up for Ukraine's territorial integrity and freedom,' Jonson said. Some Indo-Pacific countries, such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, have been supporting Ukraine with military aid and training for the last three years, seeing Russia's invasion as a test of resolve for free countries. Judith Collins, New Zealand's defense minister, said her country is continuing its mission to train Ukrainian troops on the continent and could also assist in a peacekeeping mission if a peace deal is reached. That said, New Zealand recently announced a major defense spending increase and is now aiming to spend 2% of GDP on the military by the early 2030s. Part of that plan is motivated by Wellington's sense that it needs to take greater control over its own security, regardless of partnerships with other countries. 'The comment that's been made to me by one of the NATO ministers is: 'We have a NATO-first policy.' My answer to that was: 'So where does that leave us?'' Collins said in an interview. 'The answer is: doing more for ourselves with our friends in our region — as well as being good contributors to peace in Europe,' she said.
