Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced new standards on fitness and grooming, noting that military officials would no longer be allowed to have beards or long hair.
While speaking to military officials at Marine Corps Base Quantico, located in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, Hegseth called for the restoration of a "ruthless, dispassionate and common sense application of standards." Hegseth spoke about the importance of keeping standards and having them be "uniform, gender neutral, and high," and added that "leaders set the standard."
"Today, at my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year. Every year of service," Hegseth said. "Also, today at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense, I mean most units do that already, but we're codifying. And, we're not talking like hot yoga and stretching. Real hard PT. Either as a unit or as an individual. At every level from the joint chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private, leaders set the standard."
"This also means grooming standards, no more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression. We're going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards," Hegseth continued. "It's like the broken windows theory of policing. It's like when you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes."
"So, you have to address the small stuff. This is on duty, in the field, and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave. We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans," Hegseth continued.
Hegseth continued to speak about how the military had had "leaders who either refuse to call BS and enforce standards, or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards."
"Both are unacceptable," Hegseth added. "And, that's why today at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done."
Breitbart News Deputy Political Editor Bradley Jaye reported that during his speech, Hegseth also noted how "the only mission of the newly restored Department of War" would be "warfighting, preparing for war, and preparing to win."