Active duty troops arrested at an underground club

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has not had a very smooth ride running the Pentagon.

The latest embarrassment for the polarizing Trump official is the arrest of several active-duty troops who were working at an underground club in Colorado.

#SignalGate

Not to keep beating a dead horse, but the Signal chat app controversy is a very big issue for Hegseth, even if Trump does not want to hold Hegseth and Mike Waltz responsible for what happened.

Hegseth insisted that he was not discussing classified information on the app, but I think anyone familiar with battle plans and war plans would agree that the information never should have been discussed on an insecure app.

This was made even worse when it was later reported that Hegseth had some family and friends in a chat group to give them updates.

Turning the page

Hegseth has had several opportunities recently to get the negative reports out of the cycle and flip it.

For instance, the United States recently carried out a successful attack against the Houthis, which reportedly resulted in several hundred deaths and some 800 targets being hit.

Hegseth also announced a new crackdown on obese troops after a shocking report was revealed regarding the health conditioning of Reserve and Guard troops.

That, however, took a hit when a report surfaced about a $56 million fighter jet rolling off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman.

Another embarrassment

Earlier this week, Hegseth got popped again when DEA agents conducted a raid on an illegal underground club in Colorado.

This impacted Hegseth because there were reportedly more than a dozen active troops who were at the club as well as working at the club, reportedly as security guards.

Jonathan Pullen, the special agent in charge at the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division, explained, “We have some active-duty service members who were armed security guards.”

I know some people may say this is not fair to blame Hegseth, but the fact of the matter is that the man in charge is the one you ultimately hold responsible, and if he is not holding anyone responsible, that is where we will look.

I would suggest that Hegseth very quickly identify a commanding officer and relieve him of duty, or this too will be used to justify the complaints about him being nominated for a post that seems way above his capabilities.