Fox News' Pete Hesgeth gets personal in his latest book, "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free." Ahead of its release, Hegseth spoke to Townhall about some of the experiences in the book as well as his hopes and concerns for the military.
Hegseth and the Army parted ways under President Joe Biden when he drafted his resignation letter on January 20, 2021. His last day in uniform was March 31, 2021. The separation was official on January 1, 2024.
The sixth chapter, "The Army Thinks the Enemy... Is Pete," details how then Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) didn't want Hegseth to serve in the National Guard, despite how "It had been a done deal."
It was not until he was writing this book that Hegseth got answers. "That story," he explained to Townhall, "is it went all the way up to Cuomo, and Cuomo said 'I don't want Hegseth in the National Guard," calling the move a "political" one. "The commander there said he'd 'never seen that happen ever before.' He makes a recommendation, it happens, the slot is there, you're in. And I got denied that, so I had to go to DC just to serve."
In an even more puzzling incident, the DC National Guard didn't want Hegseth for Biden's inauguration either, though.
"This was not my first rodeo. I'd never had orders revoked. I knew this was nonsense. This duty was mandatory. One of the few things the DC Guard does that actually is mandatory. We had elected officials and CNN (falsely) claiming that Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were coming to finish the job at the inauguration," Hegseth wrote. "They had National Guard troops sleeping in parking garages in the bitter cold of a DC winter and I was told that everyone was needed... except me."
It again took time for Hegseth to get answers. "I couldn't shake this feeling in my stomach. It was the strangest feeling, like my foundations had shifted--leaving me out of balance," he wrote, describing how nobody would speak to him.
Politics played a role. "But then January 6 happened, and Joe Biden was on his way in. The entire paradigm has shifted. And so, even though I had rejoined the National Guard in 2019 to continue serving, something was off. I couldn't go back to a unit that didn't need me when it needed soldiers the most. They turned their back on me. The message was clear: you are not wanted here," Hegseth wrote, hence he resigned.
When speaking with Townhall, Hegseth agreed he felt forced out, and for "pretty sh**ty reasons."
Hegseth was later able to find out that he was not wanted in the DC National Guard because he was considered an "extremist." As a senior leader explained it to him, "You were not brought to the inauguration because... they dubbed you as a white nationalist and an extremist." The reason given was a Jerusalem Cross tattoo on his chest, though Hegseth told Townhall "it was obviously more than that."
"It's a religious symbol, not a white nationalist symbol," Hegseth wrote. "Yet my detractors made the argument that I was a threat, a racist, and an extremist; not qualified to guard the inauguration. I was told that a few of my unit leaders tried to stand up for me, but it was futile. The DC Army National Guard leadership was clear: block him. As was relayed to me later, they literally say, 'Hegseth needs to stay the f**k away.'"
In our conversation, Hegseth reminded how he had served under Democratic and Republican presidents, adding "it was never about partisan politics, the military can't be about partisan politics or allegiance!"
Hegseth reflected on how he is fortunate enough to have a large platform, also acknowledging how others may not be so lucky.
"...I was fortunate. I was able to get an explanation. Without this book--and my ability to dig, thanks to my rank and my position in the media--I would never know what actually happened. Nobody was going to tell me. Instead, they tried to hide it. They just wanted me away from the inauguration and out of the unit. Most other soldiers--quietly dubbed "extremists"--never find out how, or why, such things happened to them," he wrote.
"If they can do that to a guy who is on national television on the most-watched cable news station on the planet, they will do it to anyone, for any reason. I tattooed my chest to show that my religion is front and center in my life. I am a husband, a father, and a soldier because of my relationship with Christ. My faith is what I want closest to my heart," he continued, bringing us to one of the main points of the book. "At least now we know what we're up against. I certainly do and found out personally. I fought religious extremists for over twenty years in uniform. Then I was accused of being one."
In discussing that experience with Townhall, Hegseth brought up his larger concerns. "My argument is because of the social justice, social engineering, things being pushed to the military, whether it's trans stuff or CRT or DEI, if you don't believe in those things, you're dumped 'the other,'" he shared. "Well, not believing in those things used to be what the military stood for, so now we're turning against guys and gals who have traditional values and say, 'well, if you don't accept this new radical policy, then you're an extremist.' So, quietly over time you have this filtering process, and then the vaccine mandate accelerated it, where traditional Christian conservative service members feel squeezed out in an environment that values very different things."
Readers are treated to particularly intense details in chapter seven, as Hegseth describes how he, as a member of the National Guard, helped protect DC from rioters following the death of George Floyd. The vitriol he describes when writing about the abuse that black guardsmen faced is heart-wrenching.
This chapter is also relevant because, as Hegseth explained to Townhall, this was an example of how he "was part of the unit, had been involved, was in good standing," only to then be later denied serving in the National Guard.
Later in the book, there's a chapter that mentioned the debates Hegseth engaged in. He brought it all back to a main point of the book when writing, "What I missed, and that gets clearer every single day, is that the radical left wing of America was--and always will be--in a permanent state of war, but only with their domestic opponents, not their foreign enemies. They believe the purpose of the military is to enact domestic policy and chalk up wins over their culture war opponents, not defend the nation and the Constitution."
Hegseth again really drove his main point home as part of the book's conclusion.
"Remember, this book is not about 'how the military went woke,'" he reminded. "It is about 'how the military allowed itself to go woke.' When we lose sight of the fact that the primary responsibility of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, then everything else falls apart. The military, our schools, and our entire social contract are based on this bedrock--and it's gone."
The book makes mention of the need for a new commander in chief, especially in how Hegseth is quite clear in the blame being with the Obama and now Biden administrations for insisting upon woke policies. Servicemembers, under aliases, are also quoted taking issue with woke policies such as sessions on pronoun usage, at the expense of actual training sessions. There's a chapter on how "Supporting DEI Means Soldiers DIE."
It's not merely that such woke sessions came at the expense of delving into matters that actually have to do with military readiness and preparedness, but as the second chapter makes clear, it's a matter of "Extremists That Never Were." As is referenced in the book, which Townhall covered at the time in November 2022, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a report addressing how the military is less extreme than the population.
In what Hegseth insisted is a move that "was reflective as much as it was pandering" when it comes to "absurd guidance," there was an obsession with racism and also equity from then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miley and then Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. "Piece by piece, the standards had to go... because of equity," Hegseth wrote. He also charged that "they went looking to solve problems that didn't actually exist. A problem they knew did not exist... Worse, by peddling the lie of racism in the military--which they knowingly did--they sully the reputation of an institution they purport to lead."
Hegseth takes issue with ideas such as "diversity is our strength," which he emphasized to Townhall is "the dumbest phrase anyone in uniform ever said."
"So, for eight years [under Obama]--and now for four more years under Biden--the pipelines of future military leaders have been primed with social justice, politically correct parrots. Parrots who love 'firsts' instead of fighters. Puppets who will spout 'our diversity is our strength' when they know damn well that it's the opposite in the military: our unity is our strength. They are dangerous idiots, and they are in charge," Hegseth warned in his book. "Pretty soon, you have a military that no longer socially engineers unified patriots, but instead is intended to filter out, dilute, and sideline patriots--consequences be damned. And tells troops that their individual differences are what define them, and make them special. Just like academia, media, social media, major corporations, and Hollywood, the Left is obsessed with controlling everything--and the military is the crown jewel."
Hegseth expanded upon the political situation in our conversation, including when it comes to the November election between Biden and Donald Trump. Fixing the military, especially in the context of the current foreign policy situation, is "the key question," Hegseth shared.
"It's more than one general, it's a commander in chief, and then a Secretary of Defense and then a Chairman of Joint Chiefs who are gonna say, we're done with this DEI garbagr, we're done with lowering standards, we're done with obsessions with electric tanks, some green garbage we're pursuing. We're done with these things," Hegseth explained to Townhall." We're going to reorient back to how we used to do business on a lot of levels, and then fire any generals underneath them who are involved in the implementation and promote people who are warfighters and let them do their work." Hegseth noted that it sounds easier than it would actually be to execute, but that the right people are out there.
While veterans "vote the same way the general public does," Hegseth pointed out, he also noted for people who have served, "it is devastating to look at what has happened and they will definitely be voting for a change, they feel the disrespect and the lack of leadership and the insanity coming from this administration that started under the Obama administration."
It's not just sentiments against Biden, but for Trump. "And they're frankly excited about the fact that Trump will get another go at it, because a lot of these policies sort of continued under the surface under Trump in a way that it wasn't fully understood what they were and how destructive they were... that there wasn't a true clamping down on them." Hegsetj also offered that another Trump term would be "a do-over to get it right."
Were Biden to get reelected, that "very much" would change Hegseth's sense of hope. "And it's not that I'm staking the entire future of the military on one election matters," Hegseth offered, but he did express concern about "four years of damage versus doubling that with the with with the threats that we face on the world stage."
Highlighting how "it's so corrosive" to promote members to be the "first" of a certain demographic rather than out of merit, Hegseth explained that "four more years of Biden would be really bad. It doesn't mean that it's gone, but it would be teetering. The longer a woke president, or at least a woke catering president is there, the deeper these things are going to burrow into the bureaucracy and the harder they will be to revoke."
Hegseth made clear "I love the military. It did so much for me and I'm so grateful for that sense of purpose it bestowed to the Brotherhood it created and I don't, we can't afford to lose it."
The book and our interview still ended on a hopeful note, in addition to a call to action. The epilogue is a letter to Hegseth's sons.
As Hegseth told Townhall, "I reserve the right to get more pessimistic, but right now I think with a new commander, Trump in the White House, and with patriots joining the military, you can change the ethos of that place." As Hegseth reminded "we have one Pentagon, we need to save it."