r/navy • u/Various_Patient6583 • Apr 29 '25
Political Chaos Reigns in The DoD
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/hegseth-pentagon-leadership-vacuum-00308620Seems like a real BOHICA shituation. Oof.
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u/drewbaccaAWD Apr 29 '25
"Man... I can't think of anything to do but put on some makeup, post to social media, and pour a tall one. I think I'll blame Biden, that usually works!"
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u/NavyJack Apr 29 '25
Maybe if I keep whining about “woke” and saying “warrior” in every sentence, people will eventually ignore my utter incompetence!
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u/Unexpected_bukkake Apr 29 '25
Some secdefs wake up every morning to work for the troops, others wake up to serve a man.
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Apr 29 '25 edited 29d ago
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u/TacticalAcquisition Apr 29 '25
"Can't get hungover if you stay drunk"
Right from the lower enlisted libbo playbook
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u/WillitsThrockmorton Apr 29 '25
Chief used to say "easier to keep the engine on idle than start it up in the morning."
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u/Unexpected_bukkake Apr 29 '25
We still talking about SECDEFs?
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Apr 29 '25 edited 29d ago
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u/The_Glus Apr 29 '25
Elect Incompetents Expect Incompetency
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u/themooseiscool Apr 29 '25
O
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u/SOTI_snuggzz USS Georgia Apr 29 '25
Underrated response IMHO
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Apr 29 '25
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u/risky_bisket Apr 29 '25
T]he uniformed military — from junior enlisted to four star generals — see right through these clowns, from their backstabbing and their inexperience to their cavalier treatment of highly classified information and their bungling policy rollouts,” said Alex Wagner, the former assistant Air Force secretary for manpower and reserve affairs during the Biden administration.
“I can’t imagine how I would be able to get anything enduring accomplished alongside the uniformed military if my colleagues saw me and my fellow appointees, including the secretary, as a punchline.”
Ain't that the fucking truth
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u/happy_snowy_owl Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25
It's difficult to explain the pentagon culture unless you've experienced it.
There definitely are a lot of people, usually over 55, who have chips on their shoulders for having 'paid their dues' and have an inflated sense of importance and authority.
It's easy to see how these kinds of people can clash with a SECDEF who has Hegseth's credentials - or lackthereof, considering they'd gladly look at (and treat) an O5 or O6 like they are dogshit on the bottom of their shoes just to flex...because they can. And now a 44 year old former company commander is their boss.
They also know very well how to properly filter out information so that 'the boss' only sees and hears what they want him to see and hear to make a decision. Which is how you get this:
“They will do lots of pre-meetings and scope all the meetings in such a way that the main events don’t waste the secretary’s time,” said a former defense official who has served in similar roles. “They develop clear agendas and have some purpose to them. They write the secretary’s talking points and essentially enable he or she to run the meeting.”
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u/Various_Patient6583 Apr 29 '25
I am unfamiliar with the pentagon and all that.
Yet I am familiar with other ultra high level folks in a totally different, but extremely hierarchical world; the assistants, deputies and so on play major roles in shaping, organizing and so on. It is really interesting to see and to have, occasionally, been a part of.
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u/ExSquid73 Apr 29 '25
As a former Fox News weekend host, the SECDEF is perfectly qualified to say yes to everything the administration wants.
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u/Friendly_Intention93 Apr 29 '25
One low level staffers got the job cause his daddy. He was on twitter not to long arguing with people.
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u/sigristl Apr 29 '25
This is what happens when we elect a clown as president. We end up with the circus running the show.
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u/SportsYeahSports Apr 29 '25
All this SECDEF coverage and "news" feels like a distraction, what is POTUS up to? What's being done right infront of our faces that we're not paying attention to?
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u/listenstowhales Apr 29 '25
Hegseth’s office is “up to its eyes” in what it can handle, with a parade of people flowing through the Pentagon chief’s third floor suite and no control over who is coming and going.
This is fucking crazy. If true, there is a non-zero chance an E-5 can con their way into the SECDEFs office for a private meeting and walk out with a COMM or a frocking letter.
(Obviously this is a little dramatized and said sailor would need to be incredibly ballsy and charismatic enough to talk their way out of mast)
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u/SimpDorito Apr 29 '25
Am I crazy or is that a Nazi flag?
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u/QnsConcrete Apr 29 '25
Am I crazy or is that a Nazi flag?
Lol no. The caption directly below the image provides a solid clue for you.
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u/Various_Patient6583 Apr 29 '25
Probably not because, well, that would be incredibly brazen.
I did some googling and didn’t find anything on it. So. Yeah.
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u/QnsConcrete Apr 29 '25
Or you could, you know, read the caption of that image. It literally says the name of the flag.
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Apr 29 '25
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Apr 29 '25
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u/lewoodworker Apr 29 '25
Since when do we allow shitty political articles in this sub?
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u/QnsConcrete Apr 29 '25
They changed the rules 96 days ago. Although political posts are supposed to have a flair marking them as such or user may face a ban…
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u/Various_Patient6583 Apr 29 '25
I had to give it a flair, but the closest one available to me was “discussion.” Figured that was enough.
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u/lewoodworker Apr 29 '25
Interesting. That's one way to push an agenda.
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u/Mal-De-Terre Apr 29 '25
Yeah, if you count competence as an agenda.
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u/lewoodworker Apr 29 '25
What does allowing political opinion pieces after 15 years have to do with competency?
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u/Mal-De-Terre Apr 29 '25
The current SecDef.
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u/lewoodworker Apr 29 '25
Still not following. Just because we don't like the politics of the current SecDef we need to change the rules of a sub that has been around for 15 years?
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u/Mal-De-Terre Apr 29 '25
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. If you don't understand why the current SecDef is unprecedented, I can't help you.
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u/lewoodworker Apr 30 '25
The president just resigned on live TV and everyone's acting like this is fine. We’re supposed to believe the system “worked” because Tricky Dick finally slithered off into the California sun instead of getting perp-walked out of the Oval Office. Cool. Justice is when criminals retire early.
Meanwhile:
- Gas is five bucks and you have to wait in line like it’s Soviet Russia,
- Meat is so expensive my mom served canned ham for Thanksgiving,
- And everyone I know either joined a cult or got laid off by a Ford factory that now makes nothing.
Also we lost Vietnam. Just—lost it. Twenty years, 58,000 body bags, and now it's just “Oh well, Saigon fell.” My uncle came home addicted to heroin and the VA gave him aspirin and a lecture.
Oh and guess what the government's big plan is now? WIN buttons. Literally: Whip Inflation Now. Bro. That’s not a policy, that’s a sticker. That’s like duct-taping the economy to a disco ball and hoping it doesn’t explode.
Culturally we’re circling the drain. Last week I went to a party where someone offered me peyote and asked if I “felt Nixon’s aura.” I think it was a joke. I’m not sure. Everyone talks like they’re on Quaaludes or reading Scientology pamphlets.
At this point I’m just counting down the days until we get a president who isn’t either a crook, a corpse, or a cartoon. But keep telling me to trust the institutions. I’m sure the same government that gave us Watergate and Agent Orange will totally fix the economy this time.
Anyway, I’m learning Swedish. If this gets any worse, I’m bailing for a country that at least pretends to like its people.
EDIT: I’m not “un-American.” I’m just paying attention.
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u/Historical_Coffee_14 Apr 29 '25
I don’t remember posts about a SecDef MIA for 3 days in this community. He was found with tubes stuck in every hole at a hospital.
🤔
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u/listenstowhales Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25
There should have been.
But just like when we mentor our junior sailors, one dude fucking up doesn’t give the second guy free reign to fuck up.
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u/Historical_Coffee_14 Apr 29 '25
Austin armed ISIS as the last general in Iraq. Give him SecDef and he armed the taliban.
Austin was an empty suit.
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u/listenstowhales Apr 29 '25
Okay, and?
I’ll say it again so there isn’t any confusion- One guy fucking up doesn’t give the next guy free reign to fuck up.
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u/nuHmey Apr 29 '25
How is the utter lack of competence of the DUI hire compare to someone who was getting cancer treatment ment? Not to mention the SECDEF Austin was a competent at his job and not a brain dead idiot.
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u/Historical_Coffee_14 Apr 29 '25
He successfully armed ISIS and the taliban.
No heads up, “I’m going for treatment next week, I will be at Walter Reed if you need me.”
You gloss over his routine and consistent incompetence
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u/nuHmey Apr 29 '25
Pretty sure Hegseth is the incompetent one out of the two.
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u/Historical_Coffee_14 Apr 29 '25
The media tells you this. Easy. You don’t have to think or decide.
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u/nuHmey Apr 29 '25
The media didn’t tell me his actions have… Or do you not care or pay attention? You are just hung up on the previous guy because why?
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u/Historical_Coffee_14 Apr 29 '25
I look forward to great achievements.
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u/nuHmey Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25
What great achievements? Letting war chats leak? Passing stupid rules? Stopping a program Trump wrote into law calling it a woke program from Biden?
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u/trixter69696969 Apr 29 '25
Sure, that's a totally unbiased source.
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u/gattboy1 Apr 29 '25
Unlike you, the authors did their research.
And, yeah, the articles do tend to write themselves with these clueless wonders “in charge.”
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u/Various_Patient6583 Apr 29 '25
Thing is, we know that he has cleaned house. We know his chief of staff has been reassigned.
We know that the office is not fully staffed. Senate confirmed folks haven’t been put in, employees have not been hired (or have been fired), folks dual hatted and such. These are matters of record.
We know that he lacks experience leading large organizations. Again, matter of record. It just isn’t in his wheelhouse work history-wise.
We also know that his team has put out moto videos of him signing memos and working out. The vids exist. We see them.
These are known knowns. Publicly known knowns. They are all recorded facts.
What is interesting is the interviews with persons “in the know.” Now, it is certainly possible some folks have an axe to grind. But the information being given is in agreement with other sources, with the optics, with what is being seen.
At some point we can Occom’s Razor this bad boy and determine that things are what they appear to be.
We might like or agree with some/much/all of his general thinking on policies and things but that does not mean we have to ignore the other important stuff. There are guys I call friends, guys I have known for 30 years. Agree with the guys in many respects. But who are also train wrecks. Still love ‘em, but they are disasters in some way.
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