WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told hundreds of top military commanders last week that it was “tiring” to see “fat troops.”
The arrival of the Texas National Guard to Chicago could leave him exhausted.
Days after a viral picture of hefty troops arriving in Chicago from Texas on President Donald Trump‘s controversial orders prompted online mockery, the National Guard said soldiers would be booted off active duty if they couldn’t adhere to height and weight standards.
The viral photo, snapped by ABC News, showed several heavyset Guardsmen in military fatigues hopping out of a truck with rifles and duffle bags in hand as they deployed to the city earlier this week.
Online, it blew up. ABC’s original post was viewed 28.8 million times.
Comment sections flooded with puns and derision ranging from the creative to the cruel.
“The guard activation was actually a plot to get the national guard to finally exercise,” one top Reddit comment read.
“The only thing getting murdered is deep dish pizza,” read an X comment.
In a statement sent to reporters on Oct. 9, the National Guard said soldiers on the deployment who don’t meet “height, weight and physical fitness standards” would be sent home and replaced.
“On the rare occasions when members are found not in compliance, they will not go on mission. They will be returned to their home station, and replacements who do meet standards will take their places,” the statement read.
Hegseth says it’s ‘tiring’ to see ‘fat troops’
It came days after Hegseth ordered high-ranking generals and admirals to Quantico, Virginia, to hear him speak for 45 minutes on his vision of the “warrior ethos” and admonish the Pentagon for letting physical standards slip.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said.
“It’s a bad look.”
The National Guard arrived in Chicago this week on President Donald Trump’s orders.
In a memo released after his speech, he mandated every member of the joint force pass a biannual physical fitness, height and weight test and undertake daily “real hard” physical training – “we’re not talking, like, hot yoga and stretching,” he said.
It’s a common talking point for Hegseth, who posts frequent videos to social media doing pushups and pullups alongside troops. On Oct. 4, as troops were poised to enter Chicago, he undertook an on-camera push-up challenge at a military football game.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who sued the Trump administration two days later over the troop deployment, upbraided Hegseth on social media: “Pete Hegseth was busy ignoring his job and doing pushups as part of a show for the Guinness Book of World Records while Illinoisans are being invaded by Trump’s military troops.”
More: Hegseth rips Pentagon ‘decay,’ ‘fat generals’: Quantico meeting takeaways
Hegseth wrote in response, “Governor, you might try a pushup or two… (In the meantime, our troops will do the job you refuse to do.)”
The deployment of National Guard troops to both Chicago and Portland are being challenged in court by local Democratic leaders, who say their presence is unjustified and an abuse of federal power.
The Trump administration has said the troops are needed to protect immigration enforcement facilities and agents from protesters.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Guard says too-heavy troops will be booted after viral photo
