Pete Hegseth has made it clear what he doesn’t want in his military: “fatties;” “trannies;” “beardos;” and “weirdos.” His military will be a ferociously patriotic group of right-wing Christian crusaders who will blow up anything and kill anyone at his command. In short, they will be a warrior caste similar to the Knights Templars.
The problem with this approach is that a successful military in today’s world relies heavily on the ability to work with local populations and to develop and master new forms of technology. These skills have no reasonable relationship to personal appearance or sex. What difference does it make if a drone operator has a beard?
It should also be pointed out that Saladin wiped out the poorly led Templars over 800 years ago. Hegseth should take notice.