CENTCOM oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

Other Secretary of Defense War have complained about vague objectives, restrictive rules of engagement

But none have used the framing “dumb wars”, “politically correct wars”, “maxed-out authorities”.

This is new, much more political, rhetorical, combative, ideological, closer to campaign-style messaging.

I asked Chatgpt to compare his statement with the "frat-bro"/Chad style. It said

• Dominance signaling ✔
• Boasting ✔
• Swagger ✔
• Blunt language ✔
• Punchy lines ✔
• Enemy-destruction framing ✔ (partial)
• Slang / bro-vernacular ✖

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Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense War.
"The dumb, politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we're doing here.

They had vague objectives with restrictive minimalist rules of engagement. No more.

Our authorities, [Trump's] authorities, CENTCOM's authorities through the president and myself are maxed out.

Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners.

Our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control."
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Another quote: "An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters.

Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.

The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win."