Pete Hegseth Orders ‘Rapid’ Review of Military Fitness: What We Know

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a comprehensive review of “military fitness, body composition and grooming” across all branches of the U.S. armed forces.

The directive, announced on Wednesday, aims to assess recent changes in these standards and their impact on the effectiveness of the military.

Why It Matters

Hegseth’s decision to launch the review comes amid concerns that previous adjustments to grooming and physical requirements may have weakened the military’s overall effectiveness.

In recent years, policies have been altered to allow greater flexibility in appearance standards and body fat percentages for recruits.

What To Know

In the Department of Defense memo, Hegseth said: “We must remain vigilant in maintaining the standards that enable the men and women of our military to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force.”

“Our adversaries are not growing weaker, and our tasks are not growing less challenging,” he added.

According to the Pentagon, the review will be conducted by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

It will focus on how physical fitness and grooming standards have changed over the past decade, going back to January 1, 2015, and determine whether those changes have affected the force’s operational effectiveness.

Under the Biden administration, the military relaxed restrictions on haircuts, facial hair and body composition requirements, according to the New York Post.

Changes included allowing women to wear earrings, men to use nail polish, and increasing the allowable body fat percentage for new Air Force recruits, from 20 percent to 26 percent for men and from 28 percent to 36 percent for women.

Each branch of the military currently sets its own fitness and grooming standards, with some variations in requirements.

The new review will examine whether these differing policies should be standardized across the Department of Defense.

Critics argue that loosening physical and grooming requirements was an effort to make the military more inclusive and broaden recruitment efforts at a time when enlistment numbers have struggled.

What People Are Saying

Michael Clarke, a visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Newsweek: “Some very ‘fit’ people may be unfit for combat at any given time because of – say – dental issues, sporting injuries, recent flu or infections etc. Others may be permanently unfit because they picked up hearing loss as a result of previous combat, or have become short-sighted in roles where A1 eyesight is required – but they are still entirely fit for non-combat roles. Others may just be unfit because they can’t pass the regular physical fitness tests.

“So the key question is how and where the military top ranks choose to draw the lines at ‘combat fit’, ‘non-combat fit’ or just ‘unfit for service’.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Our troops will be fit — not fat. Our troops will look sharp — not sloppy. We seek only quality — not quotas. BOTTOM LINE: our @DeptofDefense will make standards HIGH & GREAT again — across the entire force.”

David Glenn, a retired U.S. Navy submariner, wrote in a post on X: “As a 23 year vet, this is outstanding! Military bearing and standards have nose-dived since I retire [sic] 17 years ago. And to think I thought it was bad back then. It’s gotten ridiculous now with uniform and grooming standards being waived by Department Heads.”

What Happens Next

The Pentagon’s review is expected to be completed in the coming months. The findings will determine whether the Department of Defense will reinstate stricter standards or maintain the current policies.