Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth portrayed the US military Tuesday as too fat, too focused on leftist "woke" ideas, and in need of major shake-up with an emphasis on being tough "war fighters."

The speech, to an auditorium of hundreds of generals and admirals hastily called to Virginia from around the world, touted a plan for ending what the former Fox News host claimed had been "decades of decay."

Striding across a stage in front of a giant American flag that mirrored his pocket square, Hegseth took aim at "stupid rules of engagement" on the battlefield and "fat troops" at home, calling for the military to look back to the standards of 1990 for inspiration.

He said he wanted a military focused on lethality, not racial or gender diversity, with an end to what he said were troops "walking

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