It wasn’t until I read about Hegseth on a few us military forums that I realised what a loser he was in their terms.
He joined the army as an infantry officer (after a stint as a Guantanamo bay guard).
Apparently at that point EVERY infantry officer does Ranger school, airborne school or air assault school. It’s the default career path. You get in, do some extra qualifications, move up the ladder. Except Hegseth never passed them, Instead he got dumped in civil affairs posts, which is usually reserved for the fat, drunk, unpromotable people the army can’t get rid of.
Then with no counterintelligence training or experience he volunteered to teach counterintelligence in Kabul, where he taught 1 class and then got shelved forever.
His highest command was a platoon, the second smallest unit size in the army which is as low as 18 people. Usually someone who’d been a junior officer for as long as him would have commanded a battalion (1,000).
His bronze star medals were awarded because he volunteered, not for any actions, and they were given out to all officers in non combat roles at the time.
Then after he left the military he ran not one but 2 veterans charities into financial ruin and was kicked out because of sexual misconduct allegations including paying off a woman who said he raped her and because he was regularly drunk at work.
The fact he ended up where he is really shows how badly Trump was scraping the barrel for yes-men, and it’s not a surprise he’s turned out to be every bit as batshit crazy, incompetent and dangerous as he is.
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History
A whistle-blower report and other documents suggest that Trump’s nominee to run the Pentagon was forced out of previous leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being repeatedly intoxicated on the job.
