TRANSCRIPT
When hundreds of military commanders were ordered to attend a last-minute meeting in Virginia in the United States, there was speculation of a major announcement.
What greeted them was US President Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth delivering an impassioned speech on "wokeness", obesity and using US cities as military training grounds.
"We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military. Because we're going into Chicago and it's a big city with an incompetent guy with a stupid governor, stupid."
That's Donald Trump talking about sending troops to Democrat-led cities that he claims have lost control of crime and immigration.
The US president is addressing a very rare gathering of 800 military commanders, who were summoned at short notice from around the world to a Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.
Unknowingly, they'd come to hear Mr Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth talk about the various challenges facing the military.
Mr Trump once again voiced his support for troops to be deployed on US streets to stamp out crime and fight a war against immigrants, who he claims are in the country illegally and who his administration wants to deport.
"We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms, at least when they're wearing a uniform, you can take them out … After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help, we're defending the borders of our country from now on."
Meanwhile Pete Hegseth warned the top brass of different threats - "wokeness", diversity initiatives and obesity.
The Pentagon chief said new directives for troops will include gender-neutral or male-level standards for physical fitness.
And if women couldn't keep up, that was their problem.
"When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it."
He added that everyone needed to meet height and weight standards, and pass a fitness test ... and overweight troops would no longer be tolerated.
"It's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country in the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and it's not who we are."
Mr Hegseth said the US military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and what he described as historic firsts.
"Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading, and we lost our way. We became the woke department, but not anymore. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris."
The message from the two male leaders was clear, that if those in the audience don't support their agenda, they should resign.
But among the sometimes-wandering remarks on the prowess of US nuclear submarines, flaws of the media, former President Joe Biden and Venezuela, Mr Trump also shared some warm words for the military.
"My message to you is very simple. I am with you, I support you and as president I have your backs 100 per cent, you'll never see me even waver a little bit. That's the way it is. That includes our great police officers and firemen, all these people that are doing so well."
Some of the residents of the Democrat cities where military troops are to be deployed meanwhile, are not doing so well.
Mr Trump has already sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington DC and has now ordered deployments to Memphis and Portland and says Chicago will be next.
Louisiana's governor Jeff Landry has asked for National Guard deployments to New Orleans and other cities, saying his state needs help fighting crime.
But New Orleans local Cynthia Martin describes the move as simply an attack.
"It is very blatantly an attack on Democratic cities to try to make them cower. The way it's happening in Portland is stupid, like every city has crime. Cities tend to be democratic. It's clearly a method to try to make everyone feel like they're in terror and being like they're having the government come after them. It's idiotic."
