rapist, a reveals just how committed he is to pushing women out of the U.S. military. Happy Veterans’ Day! The army’s going down the drain.
Per the outlet, a female Navy captain was set to become the first woman in the Naval Special Warfare Command to oversee the force’s SEALs in July. But two weeks before she was supposed to start—and following a “series of phone calls” from the Pentagon—her rank change was abruptly revoked without explanation. Sources suggested to CNN that Hegseth killed it because he didn’t want a woman in that position.
Prior to being selected, she’d been ranked the top officer for promotion in her cohort and had received a Purple Heart while serving in Iraq. She was also the first female troop commander to serve with SEAL Team Six. “She was the best man for the job,” one retired SEAL told CNN. “She’s a badass, and also extremely smart and capable.”
But a badass, smart, and capable woman has no place in Pentagon Pete’s military (or voting booths). “They want to keep it the brotherhood and don’t like that she’s coming in and challenging the status quo,” another source familiar with the situation said. We’ve reached out to the Department of “War” for comment and will update if we hear back.
As Secretary of Defense, Hegseth has never missed an opportunity to make the army a hostile place for women and people of color. Months after he was appointed, he fired a number of generals and admirals, a disproportionate number of whom were Black or women; in September, he axed a committee focused on getting women to enter the military; and in October, he hinted, during a speech, that women might struggle with the army’s fitness standards.
Speaking to CNN, several sources indicated a growing trend of female officers who were overlooked for well-deserved promotions, with some now considering leaving the military.
“I am fearful for women in uniform right now,” Patti Tutalo, a retired Coast Guard commander who’d served in the committee that’d focused on women recruitment, told the outlet. “I definitely think there will be a retention issue for women. I also think that you’re going to see an increase in assaults, increase in harassment, increase in bullying, hazing, and I think there’ll be a lack of accountability for those things.”
“It pisses me off because it is clearly someone who is capable and has done extraordinary things and is being punished because of—and I hate that I have to say it this way—weak-ass men,” a special operations source told the outlet.
As of 2023, women made up around 21% of active-duty military members and have been serving in combat roles since the Obama administration. But two years ago, there were four female four-star generals—the highest rank you can achieve in the Army. Today, there are none.
So, let’s roll-call it: in just ten months, Hegseth has built a legacy of embarrassing leaking U.S. secrets on stupid group chats, and creating an army that even North Korea would find problematic.
