Hegseth's end to military DEI programs and his new grooming and fitness rules

The purge reached programs Trump himself had backed. In April 2025, Hegseth said he was ending the department's role in the Women, Peace and Security program, which he called a "Biden initiative" although Trump had signed it into law in his first term.^[11] In February 2026 the Pentagon said it was cutting its education ties with Harvard, ending military training and fellowships there.^[12] In July, Scouting America eliminated dedicated spaces for gay youth, women and scouts of color at its National Jamboree after Hegseth threatened to end the Pentagon's partnership with the group.^[13]

Names were a second front. In February 2025, Hegseth restored the name Fort Bragg to the North Carolina base that had been renamed Fort Liberty in 2023, honoring Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II soldier, instead of the Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.^[14] In March he reverted Fort Moore in Georgia to Fort Benning, honoring a different Benning than the Confederate Henry Benning; the Moore family reacted with anger and dismay.^[15] In June the Army restored seven more base names changed in 2023, finding service members with the same last names to honor.^[2] That month Hegseth ordered the Navy to strip the name of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and Navy veteran, from a ship, which became the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.^[16][17] In September, Trump signed an order allowing the Defense Department to use the name Department of War and directing the defense secretary to propose making it permanent.^[18][4] The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the rebrand could cost from $10 million to $125 million.^[19]

Grooming and fitness standards tightened. In March 2025, Hegseth ordered a military-wide review of fitness, body composition and grooming standards,^[20] and ordered sex-neutral fitness standards for combat jobs, which the AP noted many jobs already had.^[21] At a meeting of hundreds of senior officers he summoned to Virginia in September 2025, he declared an end to "politically correct" leadership and announced "gender-neutral" or "male-level" fitness standards.^[3] In July 2026, after seeing sailors with beards on a warship, he renewed a crackdown on facial hair, according to emails and a defense official.^[22] Troops attending his "State of the Force" address that September had to meet waist-to-height and grooming standards, The Hill reported.^[23][6] In July, a federal judge in the case over Trump's ban on transgender troops ordered the Pentagon to explain why testosterone treatment was promoted for some service members while the same hormone care was used to justify removing transgender troops.^[24]

Hegseth changed other rules as well. In March 2026, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, he prayed for "every round" to "find its mark."^[25] In April he signed a memo allowing service members to request to carry personal firearms on bases, ending what he called "gun-free zones."^[26] That month he ended the military's annual flu vaccine requirement, citing "medical autonomy" and religious freedom.^[27] In late September 2026 he halted appointments of civilian faculty to tenured posts at the service academies,^[28] and in November he took aim at the academies again, accusing them of putting left-wing ideology ahead of preparing future leaders to win.^[29] His removals of senior military officers and his restrictions on the Pentagon press corps are followed in separate arcs.