The US Defense Secretary has said the country's military must fix "decades of decay" as he addressed a rare gathering of hundreds of senior officers summoned from around the world to hear him speak near Washington.
The wide-ranging 45-minute speech by Pete Hegseth comes as the military has faced controversy both at home and abroad, with President Donald Trump deploying troops in two Democratic-run US cities and ordering lethal strikes on small, alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Mr Trump, who has overseen a rare purge of senior officers after taking office, has also ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran-backed Yemeni rebels.
"This speech is about fixing decades of decay, some of it obvious, some of it hidden," Mr Hegseth said, as he strode a stage in front of a massive American flag.
"Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the 'Woke Department.' But not anymore," he said.
He promised sweeping changes to how discrimination complaints are handled and how accusations of wrongdoing are investigated at the Pentagon, saying the current system has top brass walking on "egg shells."
"If the words I'm speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honourable thing and resign," Mr Hegseth said.
"I know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full."
Mr Hegseth declared an end to "ideological garbage," citing concerns over climate change, bullying, "toxic" leaders and promotions based on race or gender as examples.
He also took aim at the Pentagon's inspector general - which is investigating his conduct - saying the office "has been weaponised, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver's seat."
He also criticised the look of overweight troops, saying: "It's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon."
He said all fitness tests would be set to male benchmarks only and emphasised the importance of grooming standards.
"The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos," Mr Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence.
Mr Trump was due to address the gathering of top officers later in the morning.
He has said he will use the face-to-face meeting with the US military's top commanders at the Marine Corps University in Quantico to tell them "we love them."
As he departed for the event, Mr Trump told reporters that he would be meeting military leaders and would fire them on the spot if he did not like them.
The Pentagon has undergone eight months of blistering changes since Mr Trump took office, including firings, banning books from academy libraries and ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug boats off Venezuela.
That has led to speculation, both within the US military and in the broader US public, that the gathering could go far beyond the morale-boosting exercise described by Mr Trump to include discussions about reductions in senior officers' ranks and a revamp of US defence priorities.
The US military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the US Constitution and independent of any party or political movement.
In May, Mr Hegseth ordered major cuts to the number of general and flag officers in the US military, including at least a 20% reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals.
That came after the Pentagon announced in February that it aimed to reduce the number of its civilian employees by at least 5%.
Since beginning his second term in January, Mr Trump has also purged top officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Charles 'CQ' Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.
Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the leaders of the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.
Mr Hegseth defended the firings, saying: "it's nearly impossible to change a culture with the same people who helped create - or even benefited from - that culture."
US forces carried out a nearly two month-long campaign of strikes targeting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels earlier this year and also hit three nuclear sites that were a key part of Tehran's nuclear programme.
And US troops have also been deployed in Los Angeles and Washington - allegedly to combat civil unrest and crime - while similar moves are planned for Portland, Memphis and potentially other cities.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Earlier this month, Mr Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the "Department of War," reverting to a title it held until after World War II when officials sought to emphasise the Pentagon's role in preventing conflict.
Mr Hegseth, a former Fox News television host, has moved with stunning speed to reshape and rebrand the department as he seeks to implement Mr Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he calls discriminatory
