Hegseth praises West Point cadets as ‘not an army of woke’ in commencement speech

War Secretary Pete Hegseth praised West Point cadets for being “not an army of woke” as he delivered the commencement speech to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday.

In his first visit to the academy as a Trump administration official, Hegseth lambasted the prior administration’s preoccupation with diversity rather than military readiness.

“We must train exactly like we fight, and that means real, practical warfighting skills. It means lethality,” Hegseth said. “Let me be perfectly clear: you are not an army of one, and you are certainly not an army of woke. You are an American army, an army of warriors.”

“Four years ago, you raised your right hand and said, ‘Send me,’” he added, referencing the oath in their first year of school. “And today, as you join the ranks of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, we stand together as one army, and