• BranBucket@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      His primary qualification is that he was an officer (eventually reaching the rank of Major) in the Army National Guard, via ROTC, and volunteered to serve in Guantanamo and Iraq during the War on Terror.

      I highly encourage people to compare and contrast his service record with that of Jim Mattis, or any other appointee to the same office in recent history, for additional context.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        He was a Major. That’s not a rank with much in the way of responsibility. And he only served two years of weekends at that rank. The rest of the time at that rank was as an inactive reserve.

        So his actual command experience was as a captain. That’s command of between 50 and 200 people.

        Except that’s not true either, because Hegseth’s entire time as Captain was as a teacher in the counter insurgency school in Kabul.

        So his only experience leading people seems to have been as a lieutenant, and I can tell you, no one respects a lieutenant.

        So yeah, his entire reason for being picked for that role was his loyalty to Trump.

        • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          Trump uses the technique of employing people who are vastly under qualified, because their selfishness in wanting to keep their position requires their loyalty to the guy who saved them from being a low subscriber podcaster or ambulance chasing attorney.

          • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Mob boss mentality.

            Smart dictators try to breed both competence and loyalty. I’m glad that Trump and his handlers are not smart.