This week’s unprecedented gathering of senior military leaders at Quantico has been met with the predictable chorus of cynicism. Critics are calling it a waste of time and money, a political show without substance. They are wrong.
There were no sweeping strategic announcements, no new doctrines unveiled, no grand reorganization plans revealed. That is precisely the point. This moment did not call for another “vision.” It called for a reckoning. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s 10-point plan reflects a deliberate return to basics: one standard of fitness for all combat arms, daily physical training, and regular performance assessments. There is no shame in this. In fact, it is the only responsible course. You cannot build the future if you have forgotten the foundations.
WHAT’S IN A NAME? THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BECOMES THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR
Bringing together every general and admiral across all branches of the U.S. military was a reminder of one of those foundational elements: presence. In an age accustomed to screens and virtual meetings, this gathering mattered precisely because it was physical. The pandemic taught the world that connection cannot be fully replicated through a monitor. Some truths must be spoken and absorbed in person. Having every senior leader in one room was necessary to grasp the magnitude of what lies ahead. It was also a reminder to America that readiness begins not with policy, but with people, and that before the nation can demand excellence from its forces, it must first expect it from those who lead them.
Simply, the purpose of the U.S. military is not to mirror society but to defend it. But like much of society, too many of our leaders began chasing approval instead of victory, and we lost sight of that purpose. We confused activity with excellence, burying our force under endless mandatory training that fixed nothing and wasted time. They became box-checking exercises so consuming that leaders began signing off on requirements they knew were never met. In trying to appear compliant, we bred complacency and taught a generation that dishonesty was easier than responsibility.
The meeting was a full-throated recommitment to a military based on accountability and meritocracy. That means one standard: the standard of excellence, applied equally to all. This is not a rejection of women’s service or capability. It is the opposite. It is an affirmation that women are fully capable of meeting the same demands as their male peers and that lowering expectations for anyone, man or woman, is not compassion but condescension.
War does not accommodate feelings. It rewards competence and punishes complacency. The enemy does not ask who you are before deciding whether you live or die.
We do women no favors by pretending equality means exemption. Equality means the right to prove yourself under the same conditions, to meet the same expectations, and to be measured by the same results. Anything less is a disservice to the women who have fought, led, and died with distinction and to the men who serve beside them.
Those who mock the Quantico meeting as performative fail to understand that before any institution can change course, its leaders must face one another and acknowledge that something fundamental has gone off track. That accountability must extend to the truth about our past. We must acknowledge the reality that America lost the last two wars it fought. This is not to demean the service, sacrifice, or capability of those who served. My generation’s wars were filled with courage, selflessness, and honor. But something was fundamentally broken in the process.
Yes, much of that failure was political. But it was also institutional. For two decades, a generation of flag officers sat before Congress, year after year, and assured the people that we were “turning a corner.” That victory was near, if only we had more time, more troops, and more funding. Military leadership decided that lying to the people and their elected representatives was somehow better than being brutally honest about the reality before us.
Many of these lies were borne from a belief that truth might break trust, that it might demoralize those in uniform or give our enemies comfort. That was wrong. It was the lies that broke us. They eroded faith and confidence in the very institution most vital to our security. They produced a generation of young Americans who now question whether military service, and even war itself, can ever be honorable or worthwhile.
What a dangerous mentality to take root when our two greatest adversaries, Russia and China, are telling their children to fight and prepare for war.
THE STATE OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE
It takes humility to admit that the world is changing faster than our readiness to face it. China is rapidly expanding its nuclear capability. Russia wages a brutal war on Ukraine as Europe admits it is no longer at peace with Russia. Iran and its proxies destabilize entire regions. War is no longer theoretical. It is the backdrop of our time.
Against this reality, there is no room for social experimentation, bureaucratic indulgence, or ideological distraction. America needs a generation of leaders, men and women alike, who will reclaim the ethic of excellence and reject the soft mediocrity that corrodes institutions from within. A military cannot be all things to all people. It must be the best version of one thing: a disciplined, lethal, and capable force.
Meaghan Mobbs, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women. She is the president of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation, a private operating foundation providing humanitarian support in Ukraine.
, 2025-10-04 23:22:00, 
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