MARCH 27, 2025 – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived today in Guam, where he addressed hundreds of troops stationed in the region and a group of World War II veterans in attendance about the Defense Department’s aligned core tenets of restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence.
While delivering his remarks to the service members in a large aircraft hangar at Andersen Air Force Base, Hegseth emphasized that the deterrence piece of DOD’s philosophy is especially significant in the Indo-Pacific region, which he referred to as the ‘tip of the spear.’
“You are at the front of the formation. I don’t have to tell you that [because] you [already] know that,” Hegseth told the troops.
“You’re living in history; you’re living in reality, and you’re living in a dangerous neighborhood. You are America’s power projection and platform,” he said, adding that the entire chain of command — including commander in chief, President Donald J. Trump — is relying on the men and women stationed in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of operations to be ready for any potential conflict.
Stating the motto that resonates the most with him is “Those who long for peace must prepare for war,” Hegseth made clear that — while armed conflict in the Indo-Pacom region is the least desirable outcome of any geopolitical differences — the U.S. military must be prepared for any contingencies.
“We don’t seek war. We don’t seek confrontation. But, by being strong, our belief is that we’ll deter it,” Hegseth said.
Along with hitting on the topline strategies for DOD going forward, Hegseth also took time during his remarks to remind the troops that he hasn’t always been at the most senior levels of leadership in the military’s chain of command.
He said that when he was a junior officer deployed overseas, he used to spend a lot of time “as far away from the flagpole as possible,” (meaning that it was preferable to stay focused on the mission at hand rather than get wrapped up in high-level strategies or politics).
“Well, now it seems I am the flagpole,” he jested, adding, “But my job is to understand where you sit, to understand what’s going through your mind, what you’re thinking about [and] anticipating what you need to train, to prepare, to have the guidance necessary for a future fight.”
Hegseth also said that having the opportunity to visit Guam as the 29th defense secretary has special meaning to him, as he has a late family relative who was stationed there in the mid-1940s.
Milton Haugen, Hegseth’s late maternal grandfather, was commissioned as a U.S. Navy ensign and served aboard the Cleveland-class cruiser USS Amsterdam in 1945, which supported attacks against Japan at the tail end of the war.
Following Japan’s surrender, Hegseth said his grandfather was stationed on Guam, where he was put in charge of running the base commissary, which was basically the equivalent of running the only grocery store in the area.
“He made sure people were taken care of. He did his job. He played his role,” Hegseth explained, adding that seeing all of the service members who currently work to support the Indo-Pacom mission is emblematic of all those who have served in the region before them.
“Milt Haugen could have been sitting in seats just like this,” Hegseth told the crowd in the hangar. “And he would have been proud to look out at the men and women in this formation who carried on that legacy.”
By Matthew Olay, DOD News