Shallow, disrespectful and abhorrent: How former soldiers describe Hegseth

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Disrespectful and shallow are not usually words associated with Remembrance Sunday. But this year, Donald Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was accused of being just that…

Disrespectful and shallow are not usually words associated with Remembrance Sunday. But this year, Donald Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was accused of being just that after visiting one of the US’s most sacred war memorials.

Hegseth and his top advisers were reprimanded for laughing and talking at Arlington National Cemetery – on Veterans Day itself – with a video showing a military guard shouting at them: “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”

While it is not uncommon for the guards at Arlington – known as Sentinels – to reprimand visitors, the incident drew fury from some veterans and politicians. Republican former congressman and veteran Adam Kinzinger describing the incident as “truly abhorrent”, saying he had “never seen an official scolded like that”.

Arlington cemetery marks the final resting place of an unknown soldier killed in the First World War, as well as more than 400,000 other fallen troops. Sentinels guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 24 hours a day – a highly respected and rigorously selected post.

Mike Nelson, who served 23 years with US forces, including in Iraq, said the incident was a “continuation” of what has been seen from Hegseth. “He’s largely about content generation rather than anything substantive,” he added, arguing that the War Secretary had “always used the troops or the backdrop as something to produce his own individual image”.

The former special operations officer, who is now a fellow at the National Security Institute, told The i Paper that while Hegseth himself may not have been making the noise, “the tone he was setting probably encouraged that kind of behaviour”.

It comes at a time when Hegseth – a former National Guard officer, Fox News host and the face of the Trump administration’s military excursions – is under renewed scrutiny. He faces the possibility of impeachment, though one effort failed this week.

“I don’t think he’s as popular with the force and with the veterans as he…

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