Hegseth Confirms He Overturned a Recent Training Order and Says ‘Drill Sergeants Are Back’

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Rachel Stevenson
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Well, it finally happened — someone in the Pentagon has a spine.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just took a flamethrower to the kind of feel-good, clipboard-carrying, HR-driven nonsense that’s been quietly turning basic training into summer camp with uniforms. The memo came down, the order was reversed, and in one swift move, the bunks are back to being tossed. Cue the fainting couches over at DEI headquarters.

Let’s rewind.

It all started when Col. Christopher J. Hallows, commander at Fort Benning, issued a now-infamous memo banning “bay tossing.” If you’ve never heard the term, you probably haven’t worn combat boots. It’s an old-school drill sergeant tactic — they bust into the trainee bay unannounced, flip mattresses, inspect lockers, bark orders, and basically give young recruits a crash course in pressure, chaos, and accountability.

According to Hallows, this was… abuse. Yep. Abuse. His memo said bay tossing “undermines trust” and “violates Army values,” while claiming it somehow destroys a “positive training environment.” Because apparently, the real obstacle to military effectiveness isn’t an enemy combatant — it’s a messy bunk.

Let that sink in.

We’ve reached the point where cleaning up after a flipped mattress is too emotionally destabilizing for recruits preparing to fight in actual war zones.

But then came the snapback — from none other than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who clearly had enough. On Tuesday, he overturned Hallows’ memo, reinstated bay tossing, and — brace yourself — even signaled support for bringing back the legendary “shark attacks.” You remember those, right? Where a pack of drill sergeants descend like wolves the moment recruits arrive, screaming, demanding push-ups, testing your nerves before your boots even hit the floor. Chaos with a purpose.

It was all gone. Replaced in 2020 with something called “The First 100 Yards,” which sounds more like a motivational retreat than boot camp. Teamwork. Camaraderie. Structured exercises. Very nice. Very polished. Very safe.

But also, very useless in a firefight.

Hegseth’s people didn’t mince words. A Pentagon source flat-out told Just the News, “Tossing bunks is back. Drill sergeants are back. Getting cursed at is back.” And if that statement makes you flinch? Maybe the Army isn’t for you — and maybe that’s exactly the point.

Because somewhere along the way, the military stopped filtering out the unfit. It started coddling them. Designing training not to break weakness but to accommodate it. And guess what? That leads to undisciplined troops, unit breakdown, and — surprise — dangerous consequences when bullets start flying and soft-skills don’t cut it.

The logic here is simple. War is ugly. Chaos is real. Soldiers need to be trained for both. That doesn’t happen through “conflict resolution workshops” or “sensitivity audits.” It happens by making sure that the person standing next to you in a combat zone knows how to handle panic, pressure, and fear — because they’ve already been through it in a controlled, brutal training environment.

Sure, someone’s property got damaged at Fort Benning. A personal item, allegedly broken during a bay toss. That’s what triggered the ban in the first place. But newsflash: war doesn’t come with a damage reimbursement form. Training should be tough. That’s how it saves lives later.

And now, thankfully, the grown-ups are back in the room.

Hegseth’s move is a shot across the bow to the rest of the military brass — the ones still clinging to the belief that the battlefield should feel like a group therapy session. It’s a reminder that we don’t need warriors who are emotionally validated. We need warriors who are ready.

If flipping a mattress is the biggest trauma a recruit faces, we’re already in trouble. Good thing that era just came to a screeching halt.

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