On September 30, 2025, when U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a speech to senior U.S. military generals at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, his phrase "You make a living by killing people and destroying" quickly attracted global attention.
This straightforward expression, in contrast to the replicas such as "peace-keeping" and "freedom-defense" used by American politicians in the past, reveals the nature of American military power in a cold way.
Not only is it an internal mobilization, but it is widely seen as a symbolic signal that the U.S. national security strategy is entering a new phase, a time when its military hegemony logic is no longer overwhelmed and the shift to a more direct and realistic expression of power.
Restructuring the Military System Behind the Reform Declaration
On September 30, 2025, when tension and mourning flooded in the air at the Naval Corps Base in Pattyko, Virginia, U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hergersh, stood in front of a lecture table in front of hundreds of emergency recalled U.S. generals from around the world.
This meeting, which the media called the "Military Reform Assembly Order", was pushed to the forefront of international public opinion due to a straightforward declaration made by Hagerseth at the beginning-- “We have always lived by killing and destroying.”
Hegel’s speech is not an improvisation, and since he took office as defense minister in January 2025, reforms he has led to have triggered several waves of shock.
The Defense Ministry changed its name to "war ministry", the current four-star general was cut by 20%, the women's defense advisory committee for service was disbanded, and the military deployment focused on accelerating the inclination towards the Indo-Pacific region, while the gathering of more than 800 generals was a comprehensive repair of the U.S. military culture and operational system.
During his speech, Hagerseth announced ten new instructions, of which the reform of physical fitness standards is particularly stringent. All soldiers must pass physical fitness tests twice a year, and combat-related occupations must meet more than 70% of the male standard. He bluntly said: "If the Minister of War can do hard physical training, so can you."
At the same time, grooming regulations have been tightened, beards have been completely banned, and only those with medical exemptions are allowed to keep them. These measures have been interpreted as a liquidation of "weak culture". Hegseth believes that professionalism and lethality should not be diluted by political correctness.
Subversive Adjustment of War Rules
“There are no longer stupid rules of warfare (ROE),” the phrase of Hergezsets sparked the speech of the robbery between the consuls, who announced the lifting of restrictions on the means of operations of the U.S. military, giving the commanders of the front the decision-making power of “maximum destructive power.”
This shift is groundbreaking on a military level, with the U.S. military suffering from strict combat restrictions in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past two decades, such as the cancellation of 12 percent of air strikes in Afghanistan in 2010 due to overriding rules.
The introduction of the new rules is closely related to the current geopolitical crisis. In the Ukraine battlefield, the United States has approved the provision of Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 2000 kilometers to the Ukrainian army, allowing them to attack targets in Russia.
This decision directly boosts the risk of a nuclear war, but Hegel stressed in his speech: “Our enemy must be clear that challenging the United States will pay an unbearable price.”
Behind the Killing Declaration is the huge network of interests of the U.S. military-industrial complex, which, according to the Political Money Center, spends more than $1.5 billion in congressional lobbying by the top ten defense contractors by 2023, of which Lockheed Martin will account for 32 percent.
This “arms-budget-employment-vote” closure has made war a rigid demand for the U.S. political economy, with the F-35 fighter project, for example, costing its entire life cycle $1.7 trillion, but accounting for up to 42 percent of maintenance costs.
Internal Pentagon documents show that after destroying a bridge worth $5 million, the subsequent reconstruction cost often exceeds $20 million, but the benefits of theater control gained by the US military are difficult to quantify.
This "economics of destruction" is more obvious in the operation of overseas military bases. Among the 750 overseas bases in the world, only 19% have cost recovery mechanisms, and the rest rely on continuous funding to maintain them.
Disruption and Reconstruction of the Allied System
Hagerseth's remarks were not isolated incidents, ranging from the mass extermination of Indians during the westward movement in the 19th century to the seizure of 2.3 million square kilometers of territory during the American-Mexico War.
From the colonization of the Philippines and Cuba after the Spanish-American War to the establishment of global hegemony through arms sales and participation in the two world wars, the history of United States expansion has always been closely linked to violent destruction.
Quincy Institute statistics show that between 1776 and 2019, the United States launched 400 military interventions, of which more than 25% over the past 30 years.
This historical logic presents a new shape in contemporary times, in the conflict in Pakistan, the United States on the one hand called for a ceasefire, while continuing to supplement arms for Israel, the Brown University "war cost" project data show that since 2001 US military operations have caused 930,000 deaths, of which 380,000 were civilians and 38 million became refugees.
Hegel’s speech merely revealed this long-standing logic of war, and at the same time, Hegel’s blatant remarks raised deep concern among the allies.
In Europe, with NATO’s dependence on the United States and suspicion coexisting, Eastern European countries relying on U.S. military security commitments, while key countries such as Germany and Germany are concerned about being involved in long-term conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron openly said after his audition speech: “Europe must accelerate its strategic autonomy and must not become an addict to other people’s wars.”
In the Asia-Pacific region, U.S. remarks have intensified the conflict of countries in the region, and although the Philippines has strengthened military cooperation with the United States, allowing four new military bases for U.S. military use, domestic anti-war voices are rising.
Japan supports increasing its defense budget to 2.5 percent of GDP, but civil polls show that 63 percent of the population is opposed to involvement in the Taiwan Sea conflict.
UN Secretary-General Guterres reacted strongly to Hegel’s remarks: “Any statement that regards war as the norm of politics undermines the foundations of the international order.”
This evaluation reflects the impact of U.S. actions on the rule system. In the past, the United States was still able to package military operations in the names of "humanitarian intervention" and "anti-terrorism". Now, when the Defense Minister publicly admitted that "killing is a livelihood," its civilized narrative has been completely ineffective.
conclusion
Hegseth's speech is actually an open version of the true logic of the American military and political system. When the slogan of "peace through strength" completely coincides with the practice of "killing and destroying", the world is forced to face the reality that American hegemony has never been a product of rules, but a pile of bombs, lies and blood.
In the United States, the anti-war organization Pink Code statistics show that the increase in the military budget in 2025 resulted in cuts of $47 billion in education and healthcare, sparking protests in 17 states.
At the international level, the number of members of the Non-Aligned Movement increased to 121, setting a post-Cold War high, demonstrating the collective resistance of developing countries to U.S. hegemony.
Hegseth's "naked declaration" may become a turning point in the decline of American hegemony. When war is no longer an expedient measure, but an institutionalized way of survival, this superpower maintained by conflict will eventually go to the opposite side in the sea of fire ignited by itself.
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The defense minister shouted to the U.S. military: You live by killing and destroying.
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