[Shogun]

I served during the Vietnam War Era in Spain, Italy, Germany, Thailand, Korea, and Vietnam, among others. I have a West Pointer friend who rather recently retired from the Army, and who tells me the state of readiness of the US Armed Services has deteriorated substantially from its once lofty heights.

Somewhere between the 'woke' and the braindead mommas boys lies what is left of the US battle tested  fighting force. Pete Hegseth is a good man and a good soldier who has been been nominated and confirmed to his cabinet post in order to try and-right-the-ship. And though capable, he has a big job to do. His detractors, whether they be the trolls who frequent this forum to find their imagined relevance or DC Democrats; (shocker) are being completely dishonest for purely political purposes. 

Military readiness to them means in time of war we will just email Xi an order for nuclear subs, tanks and aircraft carriers. Oh and let's not forget ammunition. But hey, not to worry. If China's fleet shows up on our doorstep we'll just send out Bill Maher Whoopie Goldberg and General Milley to talk to them.

I'm not a Hegseth detractor. Much like with Trump, while I may disagree with some of their political views, I want what is best for our country and will support them if they feel they are making the decisions necessary to do so.

My issue with this situation, aside from the potential for confidential information to find its way into the hands of our adversaries, is the double standard. You served, so you know well that if an enlisted person or even a CGO had done this, heads would roll. I'm not calling for Hegseth's resignation, but for this administration you can't push for harsher penalties on the handling of classified material as 45 to try to nab Hillary, and then act like what happened this go around is no big deal as 47. The whole administration would have been better off if they had just admitted that they made a mistake on this one and that they were going to ensure no classified discussions would take place through unauthorized channels moving forward. While the situation and platform were different, we just sent an enlisted airman away for 15 years for sharing classified information on Discord. Acting like Signal-gate is no big deal leaves cases like Teixeira's up for interpretation. They aren't, the rules are clearly stated and he deserves the 15 years he's getting.