By C. Todd Lopez
WASHINGTON (Sept. 30, 2026) -- About 600 midcareer enlisted service members and officers formed up on the Pentagon's parade field for a morning workout with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today.
The workout kicked off a two-day event for the best-of-the-best midcareer service members, who were hand-selected by their leadership to represent their units in the nation's capital.
One year after Hegseth announced sweeping War Department reforms during a presentation to the military's most senior personnel — four-star officers and E-9s — at Quantico, Virginia, he will deliver a "State of the Force" address this afternoon, to an audience of some of the U.S. military's younger personnel.
Tomorrow, Hegseth will follow up with listening sessions, during which those same troops will tell him what they think about what's happening in the War Department and, importantly, what they think needs to happen.
"We want to hear from you," Hegseth said. "This building, this Pentagon right here, exists to serve you and your formation. We forgot that for many, many years; not anymore."
Hegseth, who outlined his priorities for the department in September 2025, told the younger audience that he now wants to hear from them to ensure those changes are being implemented.
"Last year, when we gave the speech at Quantico, we launched the War Department Golden Rule ... which is do unto your formation that you would have done unto your son or daughter's formation," Hegseth said. "No games, no gimmicks, no low standards, no excuses — if your kid was in that formation, how would you lead that formation?"
The secretary also announced a test to evaluate new policies, procedures, orders and decisions: the "E-6/O-3 test." Those ranks serve as the tactical leaders across the force.
"What we've said from the beginning is, whatever we do, whatever initiative we launch, change we make, directive I sign, order we give, it needs to be empowering E-6s and O-3s to do their job better, to fight their formations more effectively, with more lethality, with more agility, with higher standards," he said. "Everything we launch is with that viewpoint."
The E-6 enlisted and O-3 officers were invited to Washington to provide feedback to the secretary on the War Department's current trajectory.
"I hope you've seen a change over the past year, and my goal today, and really tomorrow morning, is I want to get a feedback session from all of you," he said. "What's working; what isn't; what can we do more of; what should we do less of; what's distracting your formations; how are you not empowered; and how do you need more empowerment to do your job?"
Army Capt. Andrew J. Farrell, assigned to the 551st Infantry Regiment, serves as the training and standards officer in charge for the new jungle school in Panama. He was on the Pentagon parade field today for physical training with the secretary and will attend the listening sessions tomorrow.
As a company grade officer with direct contact with junior enlisted personnel, Farrell said what would top his list to discuss with the secretary at the listening session.
"I'm definitely bringing up the issues for the soldiers — my primary concern from the soldiers I've worked with has been the quality of life in the barracks," he said. "I think that's an important issue that we could focus on across the joint force, and just making sure soldiers are taken care of and have good quality of life."
Farrell said every day he focuses on leading from the front and doing his best in the office and on the PT field.
Army Staff Sgt. Samuel R. Reed, a reconnaissance squad leader at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has served in the Army for seven years and said he does PT twice a day. He said he's been impressed with how the War Department has changed PT requirements across the board, and what it means for soldier fitness. It's something he said he'd bring up with the secretary.
"I like the remodeling of the PT — two PT tests a year, at least on the Army side — I really like that and just trying to focus on having the more fit force," he said, adding that the focus on standards is also important to him.
Army Staff Sgt. John B. Becker serves in Italy as a mortar section sergeant assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. He said he wants the secretary to know that he has heard his message about supporting the enlisted force.
"I think what's important for the secretary of war to hear about when it comes to junior enlisted is to know that he actually cares about us; he's actually there for us," he said. "Most importantly, our goal is to always accomplish the commander's intent — and [the secretary's] intent is for us to be warfighters. So, we will continue to work towards his intent of being warfighters — I think that's what we need to do."