ICYMI: WSJ Op-Ed from Pete Hegseth: “I’ve Faced Fire Before. I Won’t Back Down!”
I look forward to an honest confirmation hearing, not a press show trial based on anonymous accusations.
On these pages 18 years ago I penned an article titled “More Troops, Please.” I was a young U.S. Army lieutenant who had just completed a combat tour in Iraq, and believed we needed more troops and a new strategy to turn the war around. I had seen a lot, been through a lot, and believed in my troops and the mission.
Ever since then, I have been fighting for our troops.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that op-ed launched my next mission—fighting for the warriors on the home front. Like many veterans of my generation, when I came home I jumped into a new mission—always looking for a way to channel the sense of purpose that had been unleashed in combat.
For me, that next mission meant taking over Vets for Freedom, an organization for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We traveled the country, stormed Capitol Hill, and returned to the battlefield to report on progress. We were young, bold and battle-hardened. Our passion was for the troops still fighting—and we had their backs.
We weren’t perfect, but we were always honest and earnest. We raised money honestly and spent it earnestly—to advance our cause. We weren’t political experts, but we were patriotic believers. Like veterans returning from any war, we drank beers to manage the reality of what we had faced. But we never did anything improper, and we treated everyone with respect. We had a new mission and fought for it.
In the 2008 election, we fought hard for John McCain to defeat Barack Obama. We were a bit naive, so we doubled down on our political spending at the very end, when other groups pulled back. It was a tactical mistake, which left us in debt (like most political campaigns). But I stayed with the organization until all the debt was paid off and outstanding contracts negotiated.
Shortly thereafter, I volunteered—again—to deploy overseas, this time to Afghanistan while Mr. Obama was president. Fighting and winning our wars was never political to me. I wanted to do my part again; like many warriors of my generation, I found the battlefield had a recurring pull on my passions. But the war wasn’t going well, and we all knew it.
When I came back from that battlefield, I took the helm of another veterans organization, Concerned Veterans for America. My mission at home continued. This time we fought to fix our broken Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system, and we made great progress. Our group was the original nexus of the VA accountability and VA healthcare choice legislation that improved the lives of countless veterans. Few groups in Washington ever accomplish as much as we did.
We fought entrenched interests and mobilized veterans and patriotic Americans across the country. We had hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers—yet based on the anonymous accusations of a few disgruntled employees, the legacy media has made it sound as if we ran a college frat house. That’s just untrue.
What is true is that as our organization grew, there was an internal difference of opinion about its future. I wanted to engage in foreign policy; our donors didn’t. Eventually, the organization and I parted ways. The feeling was mutual, and the organization’s leadership wrote me a glowing letter when I left.
Since then, I’ve been at Fox News—where I saw my work as a continuation of my mission to fight for America. Again, the legacy press has used anonymous sources to try to discredit even that. (Please see my X feed for all the on-the-record sources whom I did actually work with and who know what kind of person I am and how I conduct myself.)
I’ve been through a lot: combat tours, job changes, divorces and family challenges. (Yes, I love my mom very much, and she loves me.) I have always led with honesty, integrity and passion. Tragically, many veterans never find the purpose for their next chapter and succumb to the bottle, depression or, worst of all, suicide. I understand what they are facing—because I’ve lived it. But by the grace of God, I took another path. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has renewed and restored my life. I am saved by his grace.
The press is peddling anonymous story after anonymous story, all meant to smear me and tear me down. It’s a textbook manufactured media takedown. They provide no evidence, no names, and they ignore the legions of people who speak on my behalf. They need to create a bogeyman, because they believe I threaten their institutional insanity. That is the only thing they are right about.
Talk to those who served with me in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan or the National Guard. They support me, and I’m honored by that. I have never backed down from a fight and won’t back down from this one. I am grateful President-elect Trump chose me to lead the Defense Department, and I look forward to an honest confirmation hearing with our distinguished senators—not a show trial in the press.
Read the Op-Ed from the WSJ here.