Disrespectful and shallow are not usually words associated with Remembrance Sunday. But this year, Donald Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was accused of being just that after visiting one of the US’s most sacred war memorials.
Hegseth and his top advisers were reprimanded for laughing and talking at Arlington National Cemetery – on Remembrance Day itself – with a video showing a military guard shouting at them: “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”
While it is not uncommon for the guards at Arlington – known as Sentinels – to reprimand visitors, the incident drew fury from some veterans and politicians. Republican former congressman and veteran Adam Kinzinger describing the incident as “truly abhorrent”, saying he had “never seen an official scolded like that”.
Arlington cemetery marks the final resting place of an unknown soldier killed in the First World War, as well as more than 400,000 other fallen troops.
Mike Nelson, who served 23 years in the US forces, including in Iraq, said the incident was a “continuation” of what we’ve seen from Hegseth. “He’s largely about content generation rather than anything substantive,” he said, arguing that Hegseth had “always used the troops or the backdrop as something to produce his own individual image”.
Hegseth with Gen Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others during a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)The former special operations officer, who is now a fellow at the National Security Institute, told The i Paper that while Hegseth himself may not have been making the noise, “the tone he was setting probably encouraged that kind of behaviour”.
The incident came at a time when Hegseth – a former National Guard officer, Fox News host and the face of the Trump administration’s military excursions – is under renewed scrutiny. He faces the possibility of impeachment, though one effort already failed this week.
“I don’t think he’s as popular with the force and with the veterans as he likes to portray that he is,” Nelson said. “But there is undoubtedly a large portion of both that support him and like what he’s doing, and will probably find ways to excuse the behaviour.”
Regarding the latest incident, Nelson suggested that it was possible that someone could have a “slip in decorum, make a mistake and forget where they are at the moment”.
“I do think he’s shallow and self-interested, but I think we should be able to get to a place where we admit that his entourage were being boisterous and disrespectful, and that for those who like the Secretary, that may not be an indictment of him as a whole, and for those who dislike the Secretary, it shouldn’t be made into a larger matter,” he added.
Hegseth fist-bumping Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins at the conclusion of the wreath-laying ceremony (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty)Nelson also praised Sean Parnell, the Pentagon spokesperson, for backing the Arlington cemetery guard, after he released a statement applauding the soldier for acting correctly.
Hegseth later awarded a medal to the soldier who reprimanded him, saying on social media: “We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, Specialist.”
Still, the incident left a sour taste in the mouth of many active or retired soldiers already frustrated by the military approach of Trump’s White House. Trump’s deeply unpopular war with Iran, for which Hegseth was widely seen as a cheerleader, was viewed as a major cause of the Republican Party’s defeat in the US midterm elections this month.
One Army source in the UK said the latest incident “does not surprise me at all”, describing Hegseth as a “TV personality cosplaying as a defence secretary”.
And a British veteran said that “on top of his purges of senior officers and intolerable treatment of those serving on US warships in the Middle East, the lack of respect and deference shown in Arlington is astounding”.
“I have visited the tomb of the unknown warrior,” the veteran said. “It is a special place with numerous signs warning of the conduct expected of visitors. Tens of thousands of people attend each year and pay their respects properly, so to see the Secretary of Defense act with such brazen disregard for everything it represents is staggering.”
Chris Servello, a retired naval officer who spent 10 years in the Pentagon and now runs Provision Advisors, said that while there was “no more sacred place than the tomb of the unknown” for the US military, the incident had perhaps been blown out of proportion for political reasons.
“Clearly the knives are out for Secretary Hegseth and everything he does is under a microscope right now,” said Servello, who co-hosts the CavasShips maritime podcast.
“I’ve been to that ceremony a dozen times and similar rebukes have happened, no matter who is there. It’s the job of those guards to forcefully remind spectators of the importance and sacredness of the event and location.”
“I just don’t believe any Pentagon leader would intentionally be disrespectful at Arlington,” he added.
The Pentagon was contacted for comment.
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