Pete Hegseth says US troops ‘need to be fit, not fat’ as he attacks ‘completely unacceptable’ statistic

'Our troops need to be fit - not fat,’ Pete Hegseth tells US Army War College in speechSource: DoD/TMX

Transcript

00:00You need to be fit, not fat.

00:03To be lethal, you have to trust that the warrior alongside you in battle

00:07or the troops fighting in the unit that many of you will lead

00:11are capable, truly physically capable of doing what is necessary under fire.

00:18You need to be fit, not fat.

00:22Sharp, not shabby.

00:25Especially our leaders.

00:27And that's why we're reviewing how the department has maintained standards in the past,

00:33especially the last four years, and whether those standards have dropped.