Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals

[themaguffin]

The Pentagon has summoned military officials from around the world for a gathering in Virginia. Even top generals and their staffs don’t know the reason for the meeting.

The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter. The directive was issued earlier this week, as a government shutdown looms, and months after Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon announced plans to undertake a sweeping consolidation of top military commands.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/25/hegseth-generals-quantico-meeting/

[LuvLoogie]

1. Hell no.

Fuck KegBreath.

[Totally Tunsie]

2. Because he can?

Proof of power?

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. Either we're going to war, somewhere, or half of them are getting axed for being too woke.

I'll place odds at an even 50-50 as to either outcome.

[ananda]

4. Or both.

Who knows....

[Totally Tunsie]

5. Somebody took the strawberries.

For those too young to remember:

[dutch777]

11. LOL. There it is. I want to feel in charge and I want all the shoulder candy in the room not just on zoom.

[Sailingdiver]

7. With this clown

It's probably some of both.

[Ritabert]

13. Well they're itching for a fight with Venezuela

[Irish_Dem]

6. Whatever it is, it won't be good.

[WhiteTara]

8. gather them all in one place

and have a mass casualty? I am getting very cynical.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. That Happened In The Movie...

...Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Exactly what you describe.

[Strelnikov_]

24. Red Wedding?

As a post on ‘redacted’ notes, gathering all the leadership, who despise you, together in one place may not have the intended consequence.

Consensus seems to be the reorg that has been rumored. The idiocy of bringing in all overseas leadership was noted, but typical for this crew. Gotta show ‘em who’s boss. Get an impression he is hated by the career staff.

[Rstrstx]

37. Anyone who doesn't go along will be thrown into a shark tank

Trump will probably appear on a big screen and extort the world for one million dollars.

[WhiteTara]

38. or they will commit suicide

by 2 shots to the back of the head.

[JustBeGood]

9. Military takeover

"Those agreeing may stay, those not agreeing please board one of the busses outside".

[drray23]

21. This is exactly what i was going to post.

They are trying to assess who are the loyalists before pressing forward.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Consolidating the top military commands will make it easier for Trump to take control.

He will have an easier time controlling the military.
And making them do illegal activities.

[NCDem47]

12. "The President and I are going balls to the walls...

...get in line or be court-martialed."

[or something to that effect.]

[Wounded Bear]

14. Time to swear the oath of loyalty to trump...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Soldier's Oath" redirects here. For the 1915 film, see A Soldier's Oath.

This article is about the oath sworn by members of the Wehrmacht and German civil service from 1934. For other uses, see Oaths to Hitler.

Reichswehr soldiers swearing the Hitler oath in 1934, with hands raised in the traditional schwurhand gesture
The Hitler Oath (German: Führereid or Führer Oath)—also referred in English as the Soldier's Oath[1]—refers to the oaths of allegiance sworn by officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht and civil servants of Nazi Germany between 1934 and 1945. The oath pledged personal loyalty to Adolf Hitler rather than loyalty to the Weimar Constitution of the country. Historians view the personal oath of the Nazi Germany as an important psychological element to obey orders for committing war crimes, atrocities, and genocide.[2] During the Nuremberg trials, many German officers unsuccessfully attempted to use the oath as a defence against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Oath

[Wounded Bear]

16. The oath...

"I swear by God this holy oath
that I shall render unconditional obedience
to the Leader of the German Reich and people,
Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces,
and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared
to give my life for this oath."

[2naSalit]

15. Maybe...

Those generals will...

[newdeal2]

17. Sounds like a purge is coming

[milestogo]

18. They're going to kill us all.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

19. I'm betting that a bunch of them are going to be fired...

...and not replaced.

Hegseth made a comment earlier this year about the number of flag officers we had during WWII v. how many we have now. Don't remember the numbers, but I recall it was a fairly big gap.

Same with Senior Executives in DoD - we have waaay more than we need.

[Fiendish Thingy]

20. Time for the annual loyalty oath to the King? Nt

[Midnight Writer]

22. Maybe he'll assign each of them an American city to invade and occupy.

[tanyev]

25. 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge 😳

The 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge also called the Comrades Massacre[1][2] was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein[3] six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979.[4][1]

Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on 16 July 1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on 22 July in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Ba'athist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam.

The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr,[1] and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall and into custody; 21 of them were later executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party.[2] Iraq subsequently cut off diplomatic relations with its fellow Ba'athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafez al-Assad of organizing the plot.[5]: 92 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Ba%27ath_Party_Purge

[Walleye]

26. "This is it, boys, nukelar war. Toe to toe with the Ruskies"

[RockRaven]

27. Time for the purge of any who resist unlawful orders.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

28. What an ASS Hegseth has made of himself

...playing with the STRONG COOL GUYS and hacking at our military like it's his own personal pinata.

[Chasstev365]

29. Iran, Venezuela, or Greenland?

?si=XxL_xi7IaEX6tfUE

[SamuelTheThird]

30. Gotta be a purge

Either that or he got especially blitzed

[Totally Tunsie]

31. Will this end up being like a trump cabinet meeting

where they all sit around a big table and slobber all over trump's ass?

"Oh Sir, you are the best Commander in Chief there ever was, and there will never be another like you. How could the world possibly survive without your ever-vigilant direction? I lie awake at night hoping the dawn will bring another message from you regarding the superlative path my day should follow."

[Initech]

32. I feel like this ungodly horrible administration has some really evil shit planned.

[ImNotGod]

33. tRump preparing a Stalinist 1930's type purge of the military? nt

[Hekate]

34. 🐿️ Look over here! Not over there at EPSTEIN. TRUMP. MAXWELL 🐿️

EPSTEIN TRUMP MAXWELL have nothing to do with this decision. Squirrel! 🐿️

[sheshe2]

35. He will announce that the 'Department of War'...

Is declaring war on the American people ….and you are either with us or against us.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. MaddowBlog-White House pretends Pete Hegseth's mystery meeting is normal. It really isn't.

There are roughly 800 generals and admirals spread out over the globe. Hegseth ordered them to gather on short notice next week, for reasons unknown.

White House pretends Pete Hegseth’s mystery meeting is normal. It really isn’t. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-09-26T20:20:12.890Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-pretends-pete-hegseths-mystery-meeting-normal-really-isnt-rcna233903

Modern military communications equipment makes it rather easy for the Pentagon to interact with personnel stationed anywhere on the planet, a fact that made it all the more unusual when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a curious invitation to U.S. military leaders abroad. The Washington Post reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year. The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter.

According to the Post’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, the beleaguered Pentagon chief and former Fox News host issued the directive earlier this week — and no one outside of Hegseth’s office seems to know why......

Around the same time, JD Vance added, “It’s actually not unusual at all.”

Trump: Isn't it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?

Vance: It's actually not unusual at all, and I think it's odd that you guys have made it into such a big story

Trump: Is it a big story? Isn't it a good story?

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T21:05:28.847193473Z

......The point about security concerns is of particular interest, since it’s an open question whether foreign adversaries or non-state actors might try to exploit the fact that every U.S. general and admiral on the planet is suddenly leaving their posts at the same time.

“It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” one defense official told the Post.

The president nevertheless asked reporters, “Isn’t it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?” But that made it sound as if U.S. generals and admirals are tourists, eager for a trip to the nation’s capital because they want to hang out with Trump.

Reality appears to tell a very different kind of story.