Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the U.S. military’s senior-most officers Tuesday, September 30, 2025 that “fat generals and admirals” or overweight troops will no longer be tolerated, while addressing the crowd in an auditorium in Quantico, Virginia.
Hegseth emphasized the need to adhere to strict fitness standards, declaring every service member at every rank will be required to take a physical fitness test, and meet height and weight requirements twice a year.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” Hegseth said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.”
“It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are,” said Hegseth.
Hegseth gathered the officers at a military base in Quantico to reinforce his vision for the Defense Department. He said the U.S. military will require those in combat jobs to meet the “highest male standard only” of their service’s physical fitness test.
“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in a combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men, or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons, platform, or task, or under a leader who was the first but not the best,”
— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Hegseth has repeatedly emphasized that U.S. troops will be expected to meet new fitness requirements as part of a broader effort to return to what he says is the military’s “warrior ethos.”
Hegseth has frequently been seen working out with service members at military bases around the world “It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the Secretary of War can do regular, hard PT (physical training), so can every member of our joint force,” according to Pete Hegseth.
Physical fitness and combat training standards will be raised, said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who spoke today, Tuesday, September 30, 2025 to an audience of hundreds of generals, admirals and senior enlisted personnel at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
Those same standards will apply to both genders, he said, be it for the combat fitness test or weapons qualification.
Every active component service member will be required to exercise vigorously every duty day and take two physical fitness tests annually, he said.
In a memorandum Hegseth signed today, “Military Fitness Standards,” he wrote that National Guard and reserve component service members will take personal responsibility to maintain an appropriate physical fitness regimen, regardless of duty status, and complete one fitness test annually, aligned with their combat or noncombat arms designation.
Overweight troops and their leaders will no longer be tolerated, Hegseth said.
“It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon, leading commands around the country [and] in the world,” he said.
Hegseth also spoke about beards in the military.
“If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave. We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans,” the secretary said.
In another memo, “Grooming Standards for Facial Hair Implementation,” Hegseth signed today, he wrote that all personnel must maintain a clean-shaven face consistent with the following:
Sideburns will be above the ear opening.
Beards, goatees, and other facial hair are prohibited unless specifically authorized.
Mustaches are authorized but will be neatly trimmed; not to extend past the mouth corners or into a respirator seal zone.
“Leading warfighters toward the goals of high, gender-neutral and uncompromising standards in order to forge a cohesive, formidable and lethal Department of War is not toxic. It is our duty, consistent with our constitutional oath,” he said.
