Recruitment will go up with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the helm, combat veteran Sean Parnell said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.
Parnell, a former Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, discussed what will change now that the Senate finally confirmed Hegseth, whom he knows well.
“We go way back. Let’s just say that, man, what a great day yesterday,” he said.
“This is historic to see somebody that doesn’t come from this pedigree of like the military industrial complex, or like the generals and like all these people, and we got a real warfighter now as the Secretary of Defense,” host and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle pointed out.
“I mean, he was just confirmed last night in the US Senate in a nail biter vote, 50-50, Vice President Vance came in, cut the tie. What a moment,” he added.
Parnell agreed on the vote’s historic nature but said it “shouldn’t have been as close as it was.”
“You know, all of the blocks that some of these Democrats… are precisely what makes him qualified. He doesn’t come from the background. He doesn’t have the pedigree of a general. He hasn’t gone to the Command and General Staff College, these generals or admirals, once you get stars on your shoulders, you transition from being like an actual warfighter, you’re more of a politician,” he said.
“And all of these people, Matt… I’m 43-years-old, Pete and I are the exact same age. Twenty years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, my friend, and what do we have to show for either of those wars now? How much blood, sacrifice, treasure have we spent in those countries?” he asked, noting there is “almost nothing to show for it at all.”
“And it was all of the people with the with the right pedigrees who were running the Pentagon during those 20 years that got us into those disastrous situations in the first place,” Parnell said. “So I’m completely fine with having an outsider, a door kicker, a war fighter, somebody who knows what it what it feels like to have a bullet cracked by their head, get to give a shot at running the Pentagon.”
The two discussed recruitment going up as a result of returning the United States military “back to its core mission.”
“And that’s defending America and closing with and destroying the enemy, period, full stop. That’s our mission. When you start focusing on that mission, bring a laser focus to that mission, you’re going to have kids from all walks of life, you know, every race, creed, and religion, and say, I want to be a part of the best military on the face of the planet,” Parnell predicted.
“But when you’re using, which we have done for the last four years, using drag queens to do recruiting, this overt focus on diversity, equity and inclusion… probably it’s every general that I see out there, or see these people talk all the time say diversity is our strength, when you hear people say that, especially as it pertains to the military, you should immediately write off of their entire opinion, because diversity is not our strength, especially in the United States military,” Parnell explained.
LISTEN:
Breitbart · Sean Parnell – January 25, 2025“It is a strength to have, you know, a vast like vast ideological differences, people from different backgrounds and stuff. That’s good, but it’s unity that’s precisely what makes us lethal on the battlefield, is our ability to put aside our many differences as Americans and fight as one singular unit,” he continued.
“I mean, Matt, why do you think you go to basic training? Everyone wears the same uniform. Everyone shaves their head. You’re only as fast as your slowest person. They do that because the individual doesn’t matter anymore. The only thing that matters is the strength of the unit. And when that first bullet cracks by your head, if you are all individuals, you’re dead on the battlefield. Trust me, I know I’ve been there,” he said, predicting that recruitment will go up because of the military returning to its core mission.
“And since Donald Trump has been elected, and now with Pete’s confirmation, recruiting is already going up, but I bet by the end of this year, it’s through the roof,” he added.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
