U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday acknowledged on X that he is aware that four U.S. soldiers from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division are currently missing in Lithuania after conducting a scheduled tactical training exercise. Hegseth wrote on X: “We will not rest until our troops are found.”
[Note: On the heels of the SignalGate scandal which has prompted scrutiny of Pentagon leadership and many Congress members to demand the resignation of Hegseth, the Trump administration is being criticized again as President Trump was reportedly “caught off guard” in the Oval Office on Wednesday when asked about missing soldiers. The President said he was not briefed on the situation.]
Today, Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance are promoting a new recruitment ad for the U.S. Marine Corps.
The spot stars Marine Corps veteran Vance, who suits up in fatigues, fires a machine gun at a shooting range and announces: “If you are awesome, and you are a patriotic Marine then we are going to do everything we can to make you the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen.” [NOTE: The M240B (formerly called as the M240E4) is the standard infantry medium machine gun of the U.S. Marine Corps.]
New Marine Corps recruitment ad just dropped
https://t.co/0xGinVXX97 — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) March 27, 2025
Vance added: “No more quotas, no more ridiculous mumbo jumbo, no more diversity training.” Note: The Trump administration has blamed DEI initiatives and diversity training for low recruitment in the U.S. military.
However, there had been a dramatic increase in recruitment before DEI was eradicated by the Pentagon. In October 2024, the Defense Department’s Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland reported that the armed services branches recruited 12.5% more people in fiscal year 2024 than in the year prior.
But Helland warned: “we need to remain cautiously optimistic about the future recruiting operations as we continue to recruit in a market that has low youth propensity to serve, limited familiarity with military opportunities, a competitive labor market and a declining eligibility among young adults.” She added: “Approximately 77% of people between the ages of 17 and 24 require some type of waiver to serve due to any number of disqualifications.”