I spent the first 20 years of my legal career at a Big Law firm in Los Angeles, the darkest blue. I stay in touch with some of my former colleagues, and it was at one of our periodic get-togethers that I was asked the following question:

What do you think of Hegseth? He seems to be firing all the women and minority generals. Firing so many top leaders during a war can't be good.

A little background before I give my answer.

First, my former colleagues aren't stereotypical Los Angeles attorneys who hand a valet the keys to a convertible Mercedes-Benz sporting a “Bernie” bumper sticker. They are married men with children, all of whom played contact sports. They went to state schools. 

And like 95 percent of Americans, none of them served in the military. I may be the only veteran they know personally. Their question showed their depth of understanding, which, unfortunately, probably aligns with what most civilians exposed to the media believe. 

Because these were my friends, my answer was this: 

Hegseth is doing what needs to be done. He’s changing the culture before it becomes too rotten.

They looked at me a little bit confused, but nobody asked a follow-up question. 

Had they pressed further, I would have told them there was nothing unusual about the military’s civilian masters firing generals and admirals for any reason, or for no reason. Presidents from Lincoln to Truman to Obama fired generals. Lots of them. The President is the Commander-in-Chief and can pick who he wants.

I would have explained that past administrations fired generals for insubordination or ineffectiveness; the Obama and Biden administrations used this power to deliberately reshape military culture by installing ideologues at the top of the armed forces. Traditional military values were out; “woke” was in. General Mark Milley, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (“JCS”), best exemplified this when he testified to Congress about teaching........

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