In 2005, Pete Hegseth was a young, idealistic Army lieutenant serving in Iraq. At the time, he held clear convictions about crimes committed by soldiers during wartime.

In 2006, some members of his infantry company engaged in egregious acts, such as shooting civilians, executing prisoners, and attempting to cover up their actions. Reflecting on these incidents after his deployment, Hegseth addressed an audience at the University of Virginia. He unequivocally labeled the actions as “atrocities” and asserted, “Of course that’s wrong. No one is here to defend that.”

However, by the end of his Army career, his stance had shifted dramatically.

As a Fox News commentator, Hegseth began defending troops accused of war crimes, referring to them as “heroes.” He accused the military of betraying its soldiers, claiming it was “throwing warriors under the bus.” Hegseth simplified complex issues for his audience, arguing that soldiers were merely “doing the job they were hired to do,” and he lobbied vigorously for President Donald J. Trump to intervene in their cases.

This evolution marked a stark departure from his earlier principles, raising eyebrows when President-elect Trump nominated him to head the Defense Department. Those who served with Hegseth suggest his transformation was influenced by a series of military deployments—to Guantánamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan—that exposed him to what he saw as systemic dysfunction within the military.

These experiences transformed Hegseth from a staunch neoconservative into a critic of the national security establishment. His shift in perspective led him to champion individuals convicted of war crimes over military leadership.

“He’s a product of these broken wars, and pretty much our whole generation feels the same way,” said Mathew Golsteyn, a former Army Green Beret who faced charges for killing a detainee he believed was a Taliban bomb maker. Golsteyn, who appeared on Fox News with Hegseth, described the military’s leadership as repeatedly sending troops into unwinnable situations without a coherent plan.

“They gave us an impossible job and blamed us when it went wrong,” Golsteyn added.

Hegseth’s confirmation remains uncertain, complicated by questions about his character. The City of Monterey, California, recently released a redacted police report detailing allegations of rape against Hegseth from a 2017 Republican women’s convention. He has denied the accusation, claiming the encounter was consensual. Additionally, he left the National Guard after being flagged as a potential “insider threat,” partly due to tattoos linked to white supremacy and Christian nationalism.

During Senate hearings, Hegseth’s controversial views on war crimes, women in combat roles, and military conduct are expected to come under scrutiny. Critics argue that his perspective on battlefield accountability could undermine discipline and moral standards in the armed forces.

Others are concerned about his qualifications to manage a department with nearly three million personnel, pointing to his limited experience as a part-time National Guard officer. Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado and former Army Ranger, described him as “woefully unqualified” in a recent statement.

Despite the backlash, Hegseth’s nomination resonates with a segment of post-9/11 veterans and the public, who share his disillusionment with how the military operates. Trump’s promises of a more restrained foreign policy and leniency for soldiers accused of misconduct have further bolstered his appeal among this group.

Some veterans view Hegseth’s unconventional path to leadership as a potential strength, believing it could bring much-needed attention to the struggles of rank-and-file troops. Others, however, emphasize the importance of enforcing rules of engagement to prevent chaos and protect soldiers from the ethical dilemmas inherent in combat.

While the number of troops charged with illegal killings in Iraq and Afghanistan is small, military leaders worry that failing to hold offenders accountable will lead to more war crimes.

A Complex Journey

Hegseth’s military career began in Minnesota, where he joined the Army ROTC while studying politics at Princeton University. At Princeton, he edited a conservative campus journal, The Princeton Tory, writing provocative essays on topics like feminism and homosexuality. In a 2003 article, he praised the Iraq invasion as proof of the efficacy of conservative policies.

After graduating, Hegseth worked on Wall Street but soon found himself deployed to Guantánamo Bay in 2004. There, as a platoon leader in the New Jersey National Guard, he oversaw perimeter security at hastily constructed prisons holding over 600 terrorism suspects.

While Hegseth earned a reputation as a diligent and capable leader, his time at Guantánamo left him disillusioned. He criticized the Pentagon for its bureaucratic inefficiency, noting that, even two decades later, the military commission system had resulted in few convictions.

“It got bogged down early when left-wing lawyers and other protections came in,” he later said on Fox News. “It could have been a place to interrogate, try, and execute, because we are in a war.”

Iraq and Its Aftermath

Hegseth volunteered for deployment to Iraq in 2005, seeking to make a difference as violence in the region escalated. But his experiences there—marked by contradictory orders, unreliable intelligence, and shifting rules of engagement—left him frustrated.

“It was a nightmare for soldiers on the ground,” said Eric Geressy, Hegseth’s first sergeant. “The rules changed constantly, and there was no clear direction.”

Hegseth’s evolving views reflect the broader challenges faced by the military during these wars. Whether his unconventional perspective will help or hinder the Defense Department remains a contentious question.

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