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FIRST ON FOX: Two former Navy SEALs plan to bring hundreds of veterans to Washington, DC, next week to march in support of Pete Hegseth’s confirmation for defense secretary
Hegseth, a former Army National Guardsman, will take the hot seat before the Armed Services Committee for a hearing Tuesday before a confirmation vote.
The group, organized by Bill Brown and Rob Sweetman, plans to bring “as many veterans into the hearing room” as possible. Veterans are scheduled to gather outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 4 a.m., before the building opens at 7 a.m. and the hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. .
The couple met Hegseth through his participation in the annual New York City SEAL Swim in the Hudson River, organized by Brown.
A veterans group will also gather at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 9 a.m. to march in support of Hegseth. Brown invites all veterans to wear American flags and join his group.
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“There’s something really powerful about having a supportive physical presence, aside from social media,” Sweetman said. His organization, 62Romeo, helps veterans leaving the military get back to sleep and is helping to sponsor the event.
Sweetman expects at least 100 SEALs to join and hundreds of other veterans.
Two former Navy SEALs plan to bring hundreds of veterans to Washington, DC next week to march in support of Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as defense secretary. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Brown said he and others began organizing the march because of the “total dismay that many of us in the military, many of us who served our country, war and overseas, have with the current leadership of the Pentagon.”
Jurandir “J” Araujo, Hegseth’s first commanding officer when he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay prison in 2004, who plans to help support the rally, told Fox News Digital that he used to tell his colleagues at the time that Hegseth I would be president one day.
“I immediately noticed his dedication and commitment to the mission, and not just to the mission but to his men.”
“As a young second lieutenant and platoon leader, Pete was not only concerned with training and instructing his men, but making it a part of their daily lives,” Araujo said. “He always cared deeply about his troops and their satisfaction in what they were doing.
“I always saw something in him that was special,” Araujo continued. “I gave him the call sign double-A lieutenant, which means all-American.”
“I said to the first sergeant, I said, you know, I said, ‘Lt. Hegseth, get ready because this guy will be president one day.”
Hegseth’s nomination has been marred by allegations that the former Army National Guardsman and Fox News anchor drank too much and behaved inappropriately with women.
A newly discovered police report from 2017 revealed a sexual assault allegation against him that Hegseth completely denies. Others have dismissed his earlier comments arguing that women should not serve in combat roles.
Some have even said so don’t think I have the experience for the job, having retired as a senior.
President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Hegseth walk through the Hart Senate Office Building on December 3, 2024 in Washington, DC as he meets with Republicans on Senate (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The veterans who come to support him in DC are not deterred by the accusations.
“The Lt. Hegseth I knew and the Pete Hegseth I know today is a man of integrity,” Araujo said. “That is what I measure my measure of, in terms of leadership and the ability to lead men and this country.
“Her view on women in combat is the same as mine,” Brown said. “The focus should be on what will make us the most lethal and combat efficient force we can be.”
“We’re not little guys, we’re big, muscular guys. Most women are going to have a hard time, with my dishes, with my gear, dragging me out of harm’s way. It’s just the truth…Pete was talking about love.”
Both Brown and Sweetman said they were angered by the withdrawal from Afghanistan and were spurred into action when the Pentagon failed its seventh consecutive audit. They hope Hegseth will hold those responsible for the withdrawal accountable and reduce waste at the Pentagon.
“There is massive corruption, fraud, waste and abuse in the Pentagon,” Brown said. “No one has been held accountable for the travesty in Afghanistan.”
“We’re hemorrhaging money with some of the defense contractor initiatives,” Sweetman said. “There are no checks and balances on some of these big contracts, with some of the biggest companies that are integrated with the government, and so we’re looking at a huge budget that is largely unaccounted for, specifically as we speak. about the audits, how come you don’t know where the money is going?
Angelo Martinez served with Hegseth in Cubawhen he was a young soldier and Hegseth was his platoon commander. Martinez is now a staff sergeant and has been in the military for 21 years.
“I had the pleasure, or maybe not, of meeting many personalities or officers,” he said.
“The difference between him and other officers, and there are very few of them who treat other people, that is, the enlisted soldiers, like, not saying equal, but they will see you as an equal person.”
“A lot of officers look at us as American enlisted soldiers, and he’s one of the few people who took the time to get to know the soldier, understand you, listen to you, hear your points of view and things like that . he was one of the few who cared.”
“I’m actually getting out of the military and I joke that I hope one of the last things I do here is I can remove the other secretary of defense and hang (Hegseth) on my wall,” Martinez said. he said
The noncommissioned officer said he believed the fact that Hegseth did not retire as a colonel or general was an advantage, recalling the times in Cuba when he and his platoon were on duty while officers were off diving during breaks . “He didn’t join them, he felt he needed to be there with us.”
“He’s not the officer who would sit down and say, ‘You know what? I’ll just sit back and supervise and not have to deal with the grunt work.” That he doesn’t have the rank of colonel or the star keeps him still between us, rather than at a distance, like someone above us looking down down.”
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Martinez continued, “I’ve had people talk to me, asking me who he was, how people had mixed feelings about him, what he did. And you know, a lot of people sometimes don’t understand who he is, but once you get to know him , you realize he is the person for the job.
