Pete Hegseth: “Our civilian patriots who dedicate themselves to defending this nation working for the Department of Defense are…”

The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking and bureaucracy; it was staggering when we took over.

This request is an urgent, necessary injection of resources to address the immediate needs of our department.

It is a day and night difference. Training, lethality, accountability, discipline, readiness — the bedrock of what it means to be an American warrior — is the only focus of our department. Colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based. That’s it.

This department pays tribute to Lindsey Graham in the naming of this base, but there could be no greater tribute than for Congress to give and invest in our warriors for the full $1.5 trillion.