U.S. Army General Says Pete Hegseth Is Wrong About Women in Combat

TMZ

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré says Pete Hegseth doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to women serving on the front lines ... telling us women are essential to our Armed Forces.

Transcript

00:00I was at one of P. Diddy's freak-offs.

00:03Freak-offs.

00:04You saw celebrities there that you recognized.

00:07They were a rapper that we all know.

00:10Straight-up porn directed by Diddy.

00:13I'm just grateful to have made it out.

00:17He is saying that it complicates things to have men and women on the front line

00:23and that it results in more casualties.

00:27He is all for women serving but not serving in combat.

00:30What say you?

00:31Well, when the policy was being debated, I had my own reservations about it.

00:36The policy changed.

00:38Now we have women from the front of the line throughout the formation

00:45and they're performing admirably.

00:47I think if you were having problems out in the units, we'd know about it.

00:53When I first heard about Pete being selected as a SecDef, I said,

00:58well, this is fake news.

00:59I'll wait until this gets spelled.

01:02That's how surprised I was.

01:03And I do respect his service in the National Guard.

01:06I have sons in the National Guard.

01:08I used to train National Guard.

01:10And I probably trained his unit before he deployed.

01:13That being said, I was totally surprised when the president first announced

01:20and said, I like the way he looks.

01:22That is not the attribute you need for a Secretary of Defense.

01:26You haven't heard of anything that he's referring to there.

01:29He made it sound like it's a known thing.

01:32But you're saying you haven't seen any data that says there is an issue

01:36with women serving in combat.

01:39Trust me, if it was, we'd hear about it.

01:41There are still issues with the sexual assault issue, the Army.

01:46I know the force still struggles with that.

01:48We've got strong guidance from the Congress.

01:51The SecDef has adjusted that on the investigation

01:56and taking it out of the unit commander's hand to try and deal with this.

02:00But that's still an issue.

02:02But that was happening throughout the formation,

02:04not necessarily just in combat units.

02:07But the women have performed admirably.

02:09They're in the air, they're on the land, and they're under the sea.

02:14And right now we need them in the military

02:18because we've got trouble raising our ranks

02:20to fill all the slots that are required,

02:22and women are stepping up and performing well in the Army.

02:25And I'm proud of my 37 years' service

02:29and the women that I served with in units that I served.

Category

Transcript

Recommended