Pete Hegseth Frequently Sought out Combat Duties While Serving in the Military

In what has been described as a fairly dangerous move, President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth invited hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals from around the world to attend a meeting at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va., in late September 2025. This move was categorized as unsafe by some because it's really not a good idea to publicly announce that all of the United States' top military officials, including the president, will be in one location at the same time.

That decision was really par for the course for Hegseth, whose time at Fox News was marked by blunders such as hitting himself in the groin with a skateboard. In a speech that lasted roughly 45 minutes, Hegseth reprimanded the best of the best and criticized things like their personal appearance while promising to dismantle "woke" efforts in the military. Following this meandering meeting, people began to wonder about Hegseth's own military career. Did he ever see combat? Here's what we know.

A little over a month before Hegseth was confirmed as Secretary of War, the New York Post spoke with a few veterans who served with Hegseth. His military career began in 2003 when Hegseth joined the U.S. Army National Guard after graduating from Princeton University. During his time in service, he was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

In 2005, Sgt. Maj. Eric Geressy was contacted by Hegseth, who wanted to join one of the sergeant's missions. "I had never heard of anybody — before or since then — volunteering to serve as an infantryman," he recalled, "especially as a platoon leader, going to Iraq in like 2005." Hegseth would later win the Bronze Star Medal, second Army Commendation Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge for his service in Iraq.

Army Col. Chip Rankin met Hegseth in 2011 under similar circumstances. Hegseth was looking to join Col. Rankin's unit, which was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Col. Rankin told the Post that Hegseth was usually the first one to jump into a dangerous situation and spoke about a time he was surrounded by dead people whose vehicle had been blown up. "He could have been killed, and he never hesitated," said the colonel.

Hegseth has not shied away from expressing his views about women in combat. Basically, he doesn't believe they belong there. While guesting on Ben Shapiro's podcast in June 2024, Hegseth said women shouldn't be in combat at all because they are "life-givers, not life-takers." He continued, "I know a lot of wonderful soldiers, female soldiers, who have served, who are great. But they shouldn’t be in my infantry battalion."

While addressing the U.S. generals and admirals at the September 2025 meeting, Hegseth returned to his thoughts on women and combat. The Secretary of War said there would be new directives that require every position in combat to return to the "highest male standard." According to Hegseth, if that means "no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it." Hegseth said he doesn't want his son serving alongside "females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men."