Tattoos Don’t - And Never Will – Make The Man
Estadio Nacional
At least historically, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is wrong.
In a January 25 “Message to the Force” the Secretary insisted “We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military.”
The men and women of our nation’s military never lost “the warrior ethos” or the trust of a grateful nation.
Ahhhh, the Secretary’s muy macho crusade-themed tattoos! (Has no one told him the Crusades ended – eight out of nine times in ignominious defeat for the guys with their crosses and shouting “Deus vult” – in 1291?)
Simple truth: The crusades were nothing to brag about and certainly not models of a “warrior ethos.”
Florida State College at Jacksonville Professor of History Andrew Holt, who specialized in the crusades, compiled a list of seven historians’ estimates of deaths – from 1,000,000 to 9,000,000 - during the 196 years and nine consistently numbered crusades. (The only “successful” crusade was the first, which held the Kingdom of Jerusalem for eighty-eight years.)
World History Encyclopedia publishing editor Mark Cartwright (“The Crusades: Consequences & Effects,” October 8, 2018) “summarized in general terms” the consequences of almost two centuries of bloodshed. While Cartwright points to “eight official crusades and several other unofficial ones,” other scholars cite nine. Among the consequences cited by Cartwright:
A polarization of the East and West based on religious differences.
The specific application of religious goals to warfare in the Levant, Iberian Peninsula, and Baltic region.
The increased role and prestige of the popes and the Catholic Church in secular affairs.
The souring of relations between the West and the Byzantine Empire leading, ultimately, to the latter's destruction.
An increase in the power of the royal houses of Europe.
A stronger collective cultural identity in Europe.
An increase in xenophobia and intolerance between Christians and Muslims, and between Christians and Jews, heretics and pagans.
The use of a religious historical precedent to justify colonialism, warfare and terrorism.
Despite being for-television coiffed, Hegseth and his boss appear so afraid of heroic and competent women in leadership positions that they can’t allow the U.S. Navy to honor a Black woman of courage or women who have dedicated their lives to the honorable service of the nation to hold the highest ranks in the military.
All in the name of a “warrior ethos.” Whateverdelhellthatis!?!?
Even with his warrior tattoos, the Secretary of Defense of the United States - to whom 2.86 million members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Space Corps, and Coast Guard report – seems to be afraid of ghosts (and maybe “things that go bump in the night”).
In September 2023, then Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro announced that a new John Lewis-class oiler would be named for Araminta Ross as she was once known, the woman about whom more children’s books have been written than any other African-American historical figure. Born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland between 1815 and 1825, by the time she was an adult, at barely five feet tall, she could chop and tote wood as well as most men.
At around 13 years old, she was left unconscious for two days after being struck on the head with a two-pound weight thrown by a slave overseer; as a result, she experienced lifelong bouts of debilitating headaches, seizures and narcoleptic episodes.
In 1849, as an adult, she determined to seize her freedom and, despite taking seriously her marriage vows with John Tubman (a free man), fled to the “Promised Land” of the North, assuming her mother’s first name - Harriet. In an 1869 interview, she told Sarah Bradford, her first biographer:
“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land; and my home, after all, was down in Maryland; because my father, mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there. But I was free, and they should be free. I would make a home in the North and bring them there, God helping me.”
Historians debate the number of her return trips to Maryland (perhaps as many as nineteen) and the number of men and women she helped escape slavery. (Bradford confirmed 70 with another 70 people provided instructions for their escape; Tubman claimed to have rescued 50 to 60 people.)
Quaker and Wilmington, Delaware iron merchant Thomas Garrett, who has been credited with helping well over 2,500 fugitive slaves on the Underground Railway, reported:
“She has frequently told me that she talked with God, and he talked with her every day of her life, and she has declared to me that she felt no more fear of being arrested by her former master, or any other person, when in his immediate neighborhood, than she did in the State of New York, or Canada, for she said she never ventured only where God sent her.”
During the night of June 1-2, 1863, Tubman was part of a raid by Northern troops on Confederate forces at the Combahee Ferry (South Carolina). Reportedly the attack, planned with information she provided, resulted in the emancipation of 725 people, and Tubman’s presence reassured frightened, enslaved people that they could trust the Northern troops.
On June 3, WBOC (Salisbury, Maryland) News reported, “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reportedly directed the Secretary of the Navy to review multiple ships named after prominent civil rights figures for renaming, possibly including the USNS Harriet Tubman.”
WBOC continued:
“Following his appointment by President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Hegseth pledged to reestablish a ‘warrior culture’ across the military branches. He has mainly pursued this through the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and content.
“’Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos,’ Sean Parnell, Chief Pentagon Spokesperson said in a statement to WBOC.”
The WBOC report provided a unique, history-based response to Hegseth’s efforts to establish a “warrior epoch.”
“Linda Harris, Director of Events and Programming at the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center, said Tubman more than fits into the warrior category.
"’Our secretary is dead wrong, he's got some really wrong ways of thinking about women in our country and that's sad to see, I'm saddened for him,’ said Harris. ‘She was indeed a warrior, she was a commander and she should be applauded for that.’
“Harris said Tubman is also an irreplaceable part of the nation's history.
‘How can you erase that? How can you demoralize, if you will, Harriet Tubman for her valor, for her work? She was born in this country, an American Citizen, how can you take that away?’ questioned Harris.”
On June 6, Military.com (“Hegseth Wants to Rename 8 Naval Ships”) reported that Hegseth was renaming eight “naval ships who honor civic leaders and activists.” The list of those whose names will be erased includes:
Lucy Stone, 19th Century suffragette, who promoted emancipation and voting rights for all Black Americans.
Dolores Huerta, activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers movement for the rights of migrant workers in the mid-20th Century.
Thurgood Marshall, first Black associate justice of the Supreme Court.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, second woman and first Jewish woman named to the Supreme Court.
Harriet Tubman.
Caesar Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers movement.
Medgar Evers, NAACP organizer and civil rights movement leader assassinated in 1963.
Harvey Milk, gay civil rights icon assassinated by fellow San Francisco city supervisor in 1978.
Wow! Women or Hispanics or Blacks or gays! Not “warrior ethos”-enough for Hegseth!?!?
It’s time to drop the crusading “warrior ethos” bravado and celebrate women and men of genuine moral courage – excluding Confederates, who turned against the United States and fought to maintain chattel slavery.
In pursuit of a “warrior ethos” complete with the “Crusaders’ cross” and shouting “God wills it/Dios vult,” Axios.com (“Trump Admin ousts another female military leader” April 8, 2025) reported Hegseth has fired:
Admiral Shoshana Chatfield
U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, who served as the US. Military representative to the Nato Military Committee. The Navy helicopter pilot commanded a joint reconstruction team in Afghanistan and taught in the U.S. Air Force Academy; she was the only female representative on the 32-member NATO Military Committee. Axios noted Chatfield was included on a list of “woke” senior military officers compiled by the conservative American Accountability Foundation, a group that urged Hegseth in a letter to purge “the woke” from the military.
General Charles Brown
General Charles “CO” Brown, Jr, the first Black Chief of Staff of the Air Force and the second Black general to serve as Chairman. A decorated F-16 pilot, he counted 130 hours in combat among his 3,000 flight hours and served in multiple top leadership roles before taking charge of the Air Force. MilitaryTimes.com (“Trump fires Joint Chiefs chairman, Navy head in DOD leadership purge,” February 21, 2025) cited Hegseth’s 2024 book The War on Warriors to put Hegseth’s decision to fire Brown in perspective:
“’You think CQ Brown will think intuitively about external threats and internal readiness?’ Hegseth wrote. ‘No chance. He built his generalship dutifully pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians, who in turn rewarded him with promotions.”
MilitaryTimes noted the expected nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In the announcement of Caine’s nomination, Hegseth explained, “General Caine embodies the warfighter ethos…”
Vice Admiral Yvette Davids
Yvette M. Davids graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1989 and the Naval War College in 2002 with a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies; she earned a 2012 MS from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Her sea assignments included electrical officer aboard the USS San Jose during Desert Shield/Storm; operations officer aboard the USS David R. Ray and USS Higgins during Operations Iraqi Freedom; executive officer aboard USS Benfold; she commanded the USS Bunker Hill and served as air defense commander for the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and as Commander of the Nimitz Strike Group/Carrier Strike Group 11.
Even though we ran out of fingers trying to count all of her posts within many of the highest offices of the Navy, her service history includes ten decorations and at least seven different medals, as well as the 2008 MANA National Latina Organization’s first “Las Primeras” award as the first Hispanic female to command a warship in the U.S. Navy.
On January 11, 2024, she assumed her duties as the 65th (and first female) superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, where her tenure lasted about seventeen months; typical Academy superintendents serve between three and five years.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti
Lisa Franchetti earned her commission in 1985 through the Navy ROTC program at Northwestern University; she was designated a Surface Warfare Officer in 1989 and went on to command at every level and deploy in every Naval Fleet for nearly twenty years of her operational and at-sea experience. Her flag assignments included Vice Chief and Chief of Naval Operations; deputy chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Development; commander, Carrier Strike Group 9; commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea; and military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. In addition to the Defense Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal (two awards), her naval record includes nineteen other awards.
Admiral Franchetti was sworn in on November 2, 2023 as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, the first woman to serve as CNO and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She was removed from the post by Secretary Hegseth in February 2025. She spent roughly half of her 40-year career at sea.
Less than 24 hours into his second term in office, President Trump fired four-star Adm. Linda L. Fagan, commandant of the Coast Guard and the first woman to lead a branch of the armed forces.
Ahhhh! The warrior ethos!
Awarded for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty,” the Medal of Honor has been presented to 96 Black men; 29 Native Americans; 36 Asian-Americans, including two third-generation Japanese Americans; 61 men of Hispanic heritage, beginning with Corporate Joseph J. DeCastro for his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg; at least 757 foreign-born recipients; the “Unknown Soldiers” of World Wars I and II and the Korean War; and the soldiers buried in the Tombs of the Unknown of Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Romania.
The men and women of our nation’s military never lost “the warrior ethos” or the trust of a grateful nation.
We – they – don’t need “Deus vult” and “Crusader cross” tattoos and the ahistoric glorification of the eight-out-of-nine lost crusades. Thank you, Mr. Hegseth.