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Retired U.S. Army major on Trump and Hegseth's meeting with military leaders · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Today at Quantago Marine Base in Virginia, an unprecedented gathering
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  Speaker 1: of American military leaders who were summoned from across the
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  Speaker 1: country and the world for a quickly called meeting to
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  Speaker 1: hear from the Commander in Chief and his Secretary of
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  Speaker 1: War Pete hegsath Now. During his speech, President Trump said
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  Speaker 1: his administration would fight the quote enemy within and increase
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  Speaker 1: fitness within the ranks, but he also praised the military's
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  Speaker 1: might under his leadership. For more on this, let's bring
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  Speaker 1: in retired US Army major and military analyst Mike Lyons.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Mike.
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  Speaker 1: There was an emphasis on improving the physical fitness of
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  Speaker 1: American troops in this address. Is this a legitimate concern
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  Speaker 1: for many in our military forces?
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Elizabeth, I think this shift is long overdue, frankly,
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  Speaker 3: and normally it comes from the different services themselves, And
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  Speaker 3: this first time I've seen a Secretary of War make
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  Speaker 3: this kind of buck up. Let's say, that's what we
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  Speaker 3: would call something like this. Usually the services kind of
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  Speaker 3: catch themselves, but I guess it's gone on for so long,
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  Speaker 3: But no.
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  Speaker 2: I welcome it.
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  Speaker 3: I think that to come back to the physical aspect
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  Speaker 3: of being in the military is very challenging. Now the
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  Speaker 3: standards he's looking to enforce will be job specific. So
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  Speaker 3: if you're a Delta Army ranger, they are going to
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  Speaker 3: be one set of standards, likely more difficult then let's
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  Speaker 3: say clerks are something else doing other jobs. But the
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  Speaker 3: bottom line is he's all about standards, reinforcing how you look.
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  Speaker 3: You've got to look like the your soldier. No more beards.
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  Speaker 3: So I think overall that's a good thing. It's a
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  Speaker 3: net positive because I do believe the military did slip
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  Speaker 3: away from that for the past let's say generation.
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  Speaker 1: So Secretary of Hegseth also brought up this concept of
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  Speaker 1: a male standard of fitness, upholding the male's standard. Can
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  Speaker 1: you clarify that, and would that mean that women would
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  Speaker 1: be held to the same standard as men They would
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  Speaker 1: have to essentially run the same distance and speed and
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  Speaker 1: also lift the same amount.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's a little back to the future.
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  Speaker 3: He mentioned nineteen ninety that was the military I came from,
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  Speaker 3: and it had just had to do with those combat
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  Speaker 3: units that were in that didn't have females as part
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  Speaker 3: of them, and a likely it was first of all
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  Speaker 3: against the law back then, but now the standards, the
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  Speaker 3: physical fitness standards that were applied back then will be
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  Speaker 3: used today. And that's what he means by that there
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  Speaker 3: was no female standard, for example, back in those combat units.
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  Speaker 3: Then there'll be just one standard for each different MOS,
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  Speaker 3: which is the military Occupational specialty.
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  Speaker 2: So that's what he was referring to.
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  Speaker 3: He's a little bit nuanced about it, and it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: about keeping women out of those jobs. If women can
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  Speaker 3: meet those standards, they'll be able to do those jobs.
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  Speaker 3: They'll still graduate from the military academies, for example, and
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  Speaker 3: go on, but the standard will be restored to what
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  Speaker 3: it was. There won't be two separate standards for the females,
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  Speaker 3: which frankly was lower than the male standards for the
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  Speaker 3: past few years.
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  Speaker 1: So there were some concerns about the cost and the
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  Speaker 1: security issues that come with bringing this many top generals
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  Speaker 1: together from around the world, including combat zones. So what
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  Speaker 1: do you think is the benefit though, of holding sort
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  Speaker 1: of a last minute, unprecedented meeting like that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it really wasn't last minute. The
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  Speaker 3: generals had it on their calendar for some time, they
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  Speaker 3: had ways to.
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  Speaker 2: Prepare for it.
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  Speaker 3: I thought it was again positive in doing what they
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  Speaker 3: did to get to network, to hear it from you know,
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  Speaker 3: the horse's mouth, so to speak, and hear it, you know,
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  Speaker 3: get the vibe.
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  Speaker 2: Sit in the room, I look at the networking.
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  Speaker 3: No general officer left their desk and let's say in
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  Speaker 3: the Pacific or someplace and came right to that meeting.
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  Speaker 3: They networked, they got a chance to probably see family members,
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  Speaker 3: they did other things, and so I think it was
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  Speaker 3: a net positive. I think it was just so unique.
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  Speaker 3: People just were so blown away by it. I thought
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  Speaker 3: the comparisons to nineteen thirty five and Nazis were embarrassing.
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  Speaker 3: But overall, there's things that took place today that a
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  Speaker 3: zoom call wouldn't accomplish. And I thought that every person
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  Speaker 3: in that room felt it felt the passion from the
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  Speaker 3: Secretary of War with regard to where he wants the
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  Speaker 3: military to go.
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  Speaker 1: So you thought this so called rallying of the troops,
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  Speaker 1: not so called essentially was a rallying of the troops,
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  Speaker 1: bringing them all together. This was well way overdue.
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  Speaker 3: I think so, and something that again so unique. It
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  Speaker 3: happens at the division level and the core level. It
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  Speaker 3: happens lower when some of those general officers when they
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  Speaker 3: took over their commands, they likely called.
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  Speaker 2: Their leadership together.
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  Speaker 3: So it's just never happened at the very top level
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  Speaker 3: as we saw it. You know, ignore the things about
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  Speaker 3: security concerns. No one was launching a rocket into the
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  Speaker 3: facility or anything like that.
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  Speaker 2: That was not going to happen.
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  Speaker 3: There was no issue there. The military moves all the time,
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  Speaker 3: but it happens.
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  Speaker 2: At the lower level.
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  Speaker 3: What he pulled off was interesting, unique. Maybe we won't
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  Speaker 3: see again for a while, but the kind of cultural
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  Speaker 3: change that he wants to make, I think require the
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  Speaker 3: kind of meeting that they had.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the reaction that you've heard from the military
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  Speaker 1: community so far that came out of this meeting. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of people didn't know what to expect. Some people
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  Speaker 1: thought it could have been a mass firing.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, if he had made them sign oaths to
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  Speaker 3: the president, then sure, I'd be the first decide that
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  Speaker 3: that was not the intent of this meeting.
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  Speaker 2: But I can tell you this.
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  Speaker 3: I heard someone ask the general officer a question, so
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  Speaker 3: what do you think of what's going on with the
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  Speaker 3: Trump administration right now? And the General officer gave a
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  Speaker 3: very direct answer. So my job is not to understand
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  Speaker 3: how orders are and what I think about them. My
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  Speaker 3: job is to execute legal orders, and I think that's
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  Speaker 3: what every general officer is doing right now. They got
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  Speaker 3: clear intent from this administration with regard to what they want,
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  Speaker 3: what they want accomplished.
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  Speaker 2: I see that.
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  Speaker 3: I work on a military base, so I see that
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  Speaker 3: every day, trying to meet the intent of what the
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  Speaker 3: commander wants to do. So they're not looking to make
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  Speaker 3: past judgment on what's going on. If that order is legal,
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  Speaker 3: they're executing civilian control of the military. This is exactly
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  Speaker 3: how our constitution has it, and that's the position that
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  Speaker 3: we're in right now. So I think again, overall professional
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  Speaker 3: salute if that order is legal, and they go on
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  Speaker 3: like lyons, thank you so much.