The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had conducted an airstrike that killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif in eastern Syria.
One other ISIS operative was also killed in the strike that occurred on Thursday, the agency said in a release on Friday morning.
"As stated before, the United States — working with allies and partners in the region — will not allow ISIS to take advantage of the current situation in Syria and reconstitute," CENTCOM Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said. "ISIS has the intent to break out of detention the over 8,000 ISIS operatives currently being held in facilities in Syria."
"We will aggressively target these leaders and operatives, including those trying to conduct operations external to Syria," he said.
The agency said they carried out the targeted airstrike in the eastern province of Deir ez Zor in Syria, noting that it's part of their ongoing commitment to "disrupt and degrade efforts" by terrorists.
They said the area was previously controlled by the Syrian regime and Russian forces before the recent fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Assad fled to Russia earlier this month and ended a nearly 14-year struggle to maintain power in his country.
Attacks by the Turkish military on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have increased since the Syrian president fled to Russia on Dec. 8.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Ryder said that in light of the instability in the region, as well as al-Assad's departure, there are 2,000 U.S. troops deployed in Syria.
Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are making an effort to ensure military members are paid during a potential partial government shutdown as Congress inches closer to the midnight deadline on Saturday morning.
Three Senate sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is leading an attempt to "hotline" a bill to make sure all armed service branches are paid in the event of a partial government shutdown.
A hotline is a procedure used by senators usually to pass procedural motions or relatively noncontroversial measures. The practice allows bills or motions to pass with often very little or no public debate at all.
Sullivan will take the Senate floor to make a live request for unanimous consent to consider the measure at 6 p.m.
The bill is entitled the Pay Our Troops Act. It is cosponsored by Republican Sens. Lisa Murskowski of Alaska, Ted Budd and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Steve Daines of Montana, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and JD Vance of Ohio.
A spokesperson for Murkowski told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Senator Murkowski is adamant that our Armed Forces should not worry about their paycheck or their mission to keep Americans safe because of Congressional politics. This is non-negotiable for her."
The effort is extending to the House side again as well, where Fox News Digital was told that Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., is pressing for a vote on the version she introduced in the House.
"We’re obviously pushing to keep the government open, but as a backup plan, we need to be providing reassurance to our military," Kiggans said, adding she has spoken with House GOP leaders about getting a vote on her bill.
One Republican source told Fox News Digital that they expect Senate Democrats to object to the request, noting that they have done so in the past.
Republicans previously sought to pass this bill in September 2023, with Sullivan and Cruz requesting it on the floor. However, this effort was blocked by a Democrat objector.
At the time, Sullivan said in a statement, "There is precedent--very strong precedent--on this very bill, this commonsense bill that has historically received the strong support from both sides of the aisle and in both Houses."
"Facing an imminent government shutdown in 2013, which ended up lasting 16 days, this bill, the Pay Our Military Act, was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and unanimously by the U.S. House and signed by the President. Congress recognized then the importance of uninterrupted military pay for our military members and their families."
After two stopgap spending bills have been scrapped in the House, a partial government shutdown is looking more and more likely, leading some to prepare for the worst.
While Republicans in the lower chamber are searching for a deal that is both approved by President-elect Donald Trump and has the votes to pass the House, Senate Democrats have reiterated that they are only willing to consider the original short-term spending bill that was released earlier in the week before billionaire Elon Musk led a public campaign against it.
Meanwhile, the U.S. national debt was at $36,167,604,149,955.61 as of Thursday and continues to climb rapidly.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: Nearly a week after the United States Military Academy West Point admitted an error was made when an employee said Pete Hegseth's application was not accepted, and President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Defense secretary pick tells Fox News Digital he has yet to hear from the school directly.
"I would just say I haven't heard from West Point," Hegseth said Tuesday. "Nothing."
When asked if he would like a direct apology from the school, the former Fox News host said, "One would think."
ProPublica senior editor and reporter Jesse Eisinger explained last week on X that the outlet was informed twice by West Point that Hegseth had not even applied for admission. According to Eisinger, he was "100%" never admitted to the school, "because he never opened a file."
However, Hegseth did apply to West Point and was accepted in 1999 but never attended.
The Defense secretary hopeful provided ProPublica with his original acceptance letter to the academy, and Eisinger said they reapproached West Point, which then admitted that an error was made.
In a statement, West Point said, "A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend. An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024."
"Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error."
When Hegseth was made aware of the story ProPublica had been working on, he shared his acceptance letter publicly on X. "We understand that ProPublica (the Left Wing hack group) is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999. Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army."
The "error" at West Point left a number of Republicans with questions. In a Dec. 11 letter sent to U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lieutenant General Steven Gilland after Hegseth revealed ProPublica's story, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, "I understand that a civilian public-affairs officer, Theresa Brinkerhoff, informed a reporter that Mr. Hegseth didn’t apply to West Point, as he has said publicly in the past. This statement is incorrect; not only did Mr. Hegseth apply, but he was also accepted to the West Point Class of 2003."
"Worse, the statement may violate Mr. Hegseth’s rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 by revealing protected personal information. If true, it also demonstrates egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica."
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., also demanded information on how the error occurred in his own letter last week. The senator-elect wrote to Gilland, asking for "all communication and documentation regarding how West Point OPA falsely accused Hegseth of lying about his application."
The school employee's mistake comes as Hegseth continues his swing on Capitol Hill meeting with senators in hopes of being confirmed in 2025 as Trump's secretary of Defense.
West Point did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
EXCLUSIVE: A top Republican senator will accuse Meta – the parent company of Facebook – of "shadow banning" and removing social media posts in a letter Tuesday demanding answers from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Small Business committee, will, in part, cite a 2022 Washington Post report on social media companies’ "deamplification" of certain Facebook and Instagram content.
The report discussed Meta’s response to "problematic content," which the executive at the time called "borderline" and argued must have reduced reach due to its proclivity to go viral.
"Your platform, amongst others, provides an unparalleled opportunity to connect the U.S. military with younger generations. That is why I am concerned about Meta’s ongoing shadow banning and removal of the U.S. Armed Services’ posts," Ernst wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.
"The defense of our nation is entirely dependent upon the voluntary enlistment of brave women and men willing to put their lives on the line so every American can freely speak their minds."
In remarks to Fox News Digital, Ernst said Americans’ freedoms are only possible through the all-volunteer armed services, which she previously served in.
"I am concerned Meta’s algorithms are hindering our investment in connecting with and recruiting the next generation of warfighters," she added.
"The service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform should be celebrated, not restricted."
In her letter, Ernst accused Meta of sporadically adjusting its violations policies without "clear rationale" and cited reports to Congress showing an increase in content-restriction on military-related postings.
Embedding an image of an Instagram violation warning on one particular post, Ernst listed a handful of such reports and their loss of cyber "reach."
A six-hour suspension of a post on Feb. 29 resulted in the loss of 2,500 impressions and 500 engagements, while a similar situation on March 3 reduced a post’s reach by 5,000 impressions and 1,100 engagements.
Ten posts on the GoArmy social media account were flagged as violating guidelines over a three-day period in September, Ernst said, and the account was briefly put on "non-recommendable" status twice.
The senator said the Army’s public affairs office reported disruptions to several posts, including one featuring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and one depicting soldiers onboard a helicopter.
In turn, Ernst asked Zuckerberg to lay out the guidelines used to mediate military-related content and how they are communicated to account holders.
She also asked for an explanation as to the apparent suppression of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier post, and actions taken thus far to prevent future shadow-bans that shouldn’t occur.
The lawmaker also demanded an estimate on the cost of the official Pentagon-sanctioned ads that were suppressed.
FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is apologizing after an employee mistakenly said Pete Hegseth was not accepted by the historic military college, and now a lawmaker is seeking accountability.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., accused West Point administrators of trying to "sabotage" Hegseth's nomination to be President-elect Trump's secretary of defense.
Banks is now demanding information on how the error was allowed to occur.
"As you know, ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger had been preparing to publish a story falsely claiming that nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was lying when he said that he was admitted into West Point but decided not to attend," Banks wrote.
"To preempt the publication of a blatantly false story, Hegseth published his West Point acceptance letter, proving the veracity of his claim and leading ProPublica to kill the story. Eisinger defended his reporting, claiming that West Point OPA told him ‘twice on the record’ that Hegseth had not even applied to West Point."
"It is outrageous that West Point officials would so grossly interfere in a political process and make false claims regarding a presidential nominee," he continued.
"Even in the unlikely scenario of OPA mistakenly making false claims not once but twice, it is an unforgivable act of incompetence that OPA did not make absolutely sure their information was accurate before sharing it with a reporter."
Banks asked the school to hand Congress "all communication and documentation regarding how West Point OPA falsely accused Hegseth of lying about his application."
When reached for comment, West Point apologized for the error and said the academy's records indicate Hegseth was accepted in 1999 but did not attend.
"An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024. Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error," the West Point directorate of communications said.
Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It comes as he has continued meeting with senators as part of the confirmation process to join the next Trump administration.
Banks, an Army veteran, has been a staunch ally of Hegseth's. His support will be critical next year, having won a landslide victory in November to be Indiana's next senator.
Eisinger, an editor at ProPublica, defended the outlet's handling of the situation in a lengthy series of posts on X.
"No, we are not publishing a story. This is how journalism is supposed to work. Hear something. Check something. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as needed. The end," he said.
Banks told Fox News Digital, "Pete Hegseth will shake up the DOD and eliminate wokeness from our military and military academies. This upsets the bureaucrats at West Point, who now seem to be trying to sabotage his nomination."
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee suggested Congress should scrap the latest version of its annual defense policy bill over a provision that bans most transgender medical care for minors.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., leads Democrats on the committee that's intimately involved in crafting the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) each year. Fiscal year (FY) 2025’s edition was released over the weekend.
"For the 64th consecutive year, House and Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats and Republicans worked across the aisle to craft a defense bill that invests in the greatest sources of America’s strength: service members and their families, science and technology, modernization, and a commitment to allies and partners," Smith said in a statement on Sunday night.
"However, the final text includes a provision prohibiting medical treatment for military dependents under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong."
The 1,800-page, $895.2 billion legislation, which lays out U.S. national security and defense priorities for the fiscal year, is the product of bipartisan House and Senate negotiations.
It included a measure that said "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18," referring to the transgender children of U.S. service members.
Smith said, "This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills. Speaker Johnson is pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership. In doing so, he has upended what had been a bipartisan process."
"I urge the Speaker to abandon this current effort and let the House bring forward a bill – reflective of the traditional bipartisan process – that supports our troops and their families, invests in innovation and modernization, and doesn’t attack the transgender community," Smith finished.
When reached for comment, Johnson’s office pointed Fox News Digital to the speaker’s initial statement lauding the compromise NDAA.
"This legislation includes House-passed provisions to restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military by permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors and countering antisemitism," Johnson said Saturday.
Hesitance from defense hawks like Smith could put the passage of the entire NDAA in question.
The legislation normally passes with wide bipartisan approval, with expected opposition from progressives and conservatives who are critical of the military industrial base and U.S. interventionism, among other issues.
Its first test will come late on Monday afternoon, when the NDAA is debated before the House Rules Committee – the last barrier before legislation can see a House-wide vote.
If it fails to pass in committee, House leaders will likely be forced to send it to the House floor under suspension of the rules. That would forgo the rules panel's approval in exchange for hiking the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds of the chamber.
FIRST ON FOX: A new 16-page House GOP memo shows Republican lawmakers are claiming victory on issues like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), border security, and green energy in Congress’ annual defense policy bill.
The 1,800-page bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), was released on Saturday evening and details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent.
"The [fiscal year 2025] NDAA builds upon the gains made in the FY24 NDAA to end the radical woke ideology being forced on our servicemen and women and restores the focus of our military on lethality," a page of the House Armed Services Committee’s memo on the bill said.
The document, obtained by Fox News Digital, touts key wins that GOP negotiators believe they scored in the bipartisan talks.
The page pushing back on "woke ideology" said the NDAA "guts DEI bureaucracy" by extending a Pentagon hiring freeze on DEI-related roles and stopping all such recruitment until "an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs" can be completed.
It also bans the Defense Department from contracting with advertising companies "that blacklist conservative news sources," according to the memo.
The memo said the NDAA also guts funding for the Biden administration’s "Countering Extremist Activity Working Group" dedicated to rooting out extremism in the military’s ranks.
The annual defense policy bill also does not authorize "any climate change programs," and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing climate impact-based guidance on weapons systems.
On border security, a cornerstone issue for Republicans, the memo touted the NDAA’s support for "deployment of National Guard troops" to support Border Patrol at the southwest border.
A significant portion of the document stressed quality of life improvements for U.S. service members secured in the NDAA, a focus of much bipartisan discussion over the last year. That includes a 14.5% pay increase for junior enlisted troops and increasing access to child care for service members, while also providing job support to military spouses.
All the while, the memo emphasized that the $895 billion in spending the NDAA directs only represents a 1% increase over fiscal year 2024 levels.
The memo gives insight into Republican plans for national security in the new year, when the GOP will control all the major levers of power in Washington, D.C., after commanding victories in the 2024 election.
Measures highlighted by the memo on countering China and Iran are likely to get wide bipartisan support. The NDAA itself normally passes with a healthy margin of both Republicans and Democrats, save for progressives and conservatives traditionally critical of the military industrial base.
But a provision touted by Republicans in the memo – one that bans funding for transgender medical treatments for children of service members – has sparked partisan frustrations.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, cited the measures when he told Politico that he did not know if he could support the NDAA.
"It’s the Republicans taking advantage of a partisan wedge issue," he told the outlet.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the limitations on progressive policies in the NDAA.
"We remain determined to confront increasingly hostile threats from Communist China, Russia, and Iran, and this legislation provides our military with the tools they need to deter our enemies," Johnson said in a statement.
"This legislation includes House-passed provisions to restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military by permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors and countering antisemitism."
The bill is expected for a vote sometime this week.
Congressional leaders have agreed to terms for this year’s defense policy bill, with nearly $900 billion in spending, new limits on transgender-related medical care and a significant raise for young U.S. service members.
Roughly 1,800 pages detailing the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation that outlines U.S. defense and national security priorities each fiscal year, were released Saturday evening.
The bill details policy for $895.2 billion in federal spending.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the bill "refocuses our military on its core mission of defending America and its interests around the globe by supporting law enforcement operations and the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border, expediting innovation and reducing the acquisition timeline for new weaponry, supporting our allies and strengthening our nuclear posture and missile defense programs."
It includes a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted troops, according to the Republican leader’s office.
Another provision says "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18," referring to the transgender children of U.S. service members.
The measure sparked backlash from the Human Rights Council, which called it an "attack" on military families.
"This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children," HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
The bill also includes border security elements Republicans had previously pushed for, including a bipartisan initiative to create a Northern Border Mission Center under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to Johnson’s office, it would also "fully support the deployment of National Guard at the southwest border to intercept illegal aliens and drugs."
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., touted the significant pay raise for junior troops. He also said the NDAA "puts our service members first by boosting compensation, improving housing, supporting the spouses of service members, increasing access to child care and ensuring access to medical care."
Other provisions also place limits on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-based recruitment and the teaching of critical race theory in military-run schools.
The House is expected to vote on the NDAA next week.
The policy bill traditionally has passed with wide bipartisan support, save for some progressives and conservatives who are normally critical of the U.S. defense industrial complex.
However, it’s not immediately clear how many Democrats will be put off enough by its anti-DEI and anti-transgender medical care provisions to vote against the must-pass legislation.
As Pete Hegseth continues to rally support for his nomination to lead the Department of Defense, a conservative research group has compiled a list of "woke" senior officers they want him to sack should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it says are excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. Eight of those 20 are women.
Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity. AAF says that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security, while some miliary leaders have expressed concern about the list.
"The woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security," AAF President Thomas Jones wrote in the letter to Hegseth dated Tuesday and first published by the New York Post.
"As global tensions rise, with Iran on the march, Russia at war, and China in the midst of a massive military buildup, we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology," he added. "Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed."
The term "woke" is often used in reference to progressive, politically correct stances on race, gender ideology and other hot-button topics.
The group posted on X that the woke leaders need to be fired on day one. "Wokeness has no place in the military," the group wrote.
On Friday, the AAF doubled down on its position.
"Many don't want to hear this, but it's the truth: DEI in the military is going to get people killed. STOP IT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE," AAF posted on X.
Hegseth, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. He has long railed against the military embracing DEI policies instead of meritocracy, complaining it also diverts focus away from war preparedness.
If confirmed to the role, Hegseth would be in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the military.
Some of those on the list include Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson, who penned an op-ed in July 2020 demanding his white colleagues "to give a damn" and "address our blind spots around race," according to the letter.
Also in the AAF crosshairs is Navy vice admiral Jeffery Hughes, who spoke at DEI summit in 2022 and underscored the importance of DEI recruiting "exceptional talent."
Air Force Maj. Gen. Elizabeth Arledge also made the list and was noted by AAF for making "woke posts" on her social media.
In one post, Arledge shared articles that featured "discussions of whiteness in org[anization] theory and the ways in which whiteness (verb) has become naturalized as the ideal in orgs."
Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was also listed and panned for a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that "our diversity is our strength."
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, said in a statement that "No policy should be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump."
A defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the list said senior leaders are hoping that once Trump is sworn in, they will be able to discuss the issue further. They are prepared to provide additional context to the incoming administration, the official told The Associated Press, which reports it is not publishing the names to protect service members’ privacy.
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the list would have "considerable, wide and deep consequences." He said when military members see people singled out, they will start focusing on their own survival rather than the mission or their job.
Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering nominating Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary in place of Hegseth amid allegations against him.
But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters that he was prepared to fight.
"As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I'm going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be," he said.
Former national security advisor John Bolton described raising the U.S. defense budget as the top foreign affairs priority.
"The single most important priority in foreign affairs today is to increase the American defense budget. I think Congress would support a major increase if Trump proposed it. I hope that's what he does," Bolton declared in a post on X.
Bolton said last month during an appearance on CNN that he hopes Pete Hegseth, who Trump nominated to serve as Defense Secretary, secures "a massive increase in the Defense Department budget," noting that if domestic spending could be slashed so the deficit does not increase, "that would be important too."
Bolton has asserted that the Senate should oppose Trump's pick of Kash Patel to serve as FBI director.
"John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome," Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said in a post on X.
Bolton previously suggested that the Senate should reject Trump's nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the role of director of national intelligence, and of Matt Gaetz for attorney general.
Bolton, who served as national security advisor during a portion of Trump's first term, previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during a portion of President George W. Bush's White House tenure.
One of the best weeks in the NFL season is upon us, as My Cause My Cleats will bring attention to hundreds of organizations players around the league chose to help through customized cleats worn on game day.
Over the next two weeks, players will be permitted to break outside their traditional team colors for their game day footwear, and Baltimore Ravens star safety Kyle Hamilton unveiled his cleats ahead of a matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday.
Hamilton, in partnership with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL, chose to help Our Military Kids, a nonprofit organization for kids with parents in the military, either deployed or recovering from combat injuries.
Hamilton spoke to Fox News Digital about why this was the right cause for him while discussing his time with several of those children in the program that he surprised a few weeks back at the Ravens’ complex.
"My Cause My Cleats is a great week of the year for players to show some individuality and highlight some causes they feel need to be talked out, and I feel like I appreciate USAA for partnering with me on this," Hamilton, in his third year with the Ravens, said.
"We had them to the facility a few weeks ago, and about six or seven of them, ranging from ages 7 to about 13, had a great time. Got to talk with them and play some football, play some basketball. [We] broke a good sweat. We were playing for probably an hour. It was awesome.
"To have that time to humanize myself and give those kids the opportunity to ask questions or whatever. It was pretty cool."
While Hamilton had a good time at the Ravens’ complex with the children from Our Military Kids, his greatest moments were the conversations he had with them, which led to an understanding of how much they sacrifice like their parents.
"It kinda puts everything into perspective," Hamilton said. "They have such a happy outlook on life, and I’ve always said, they don’t get to choose their families or their situation. But they make the most of it, and I feel like that’s something all of us can take from even 7-, 8-year-old kids. To have a great outlook on life, play the cards that you’re dealt. And it definitely rubbed off on me to take a step back and appreciate where I am."
Hamilton also mentioned going to South Korea to a United States Army base, Camp Humphreys, outside of Seoul, where he met even more kids during a football camp. Each time he interacts with these children and families, he develops a greater appreciation for our armed services and those affected by the sacrifices made each day.
"It’s not the situation I’m sure they’d want to be in," Hamilton said of military children. "I’m sure they’d rather be at home playing high school basketball with their friends, but it’s the sacrifices that their families make. And just my ability to highlight that and appreciate them and do as much as I can to just show they’re being thought of, it's the least I can do."
Hamilton's cleats were designed by Marcus Rivero, also known as Soles by Sir, and he featured the Our Military Kids logo front and center on one of the shoes with a picture of kids playing together.
On the other shoe, different branches of the military are spelled out in different fonts and colors on a purple base.
Ten other Ravens, including tight end Mark Andrews and receiver Rashod Bateman, will be wearing custom cleats to show off the causes they are helping this year.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, is facing a firestorm of backlash for voicing his belief that women should not serve in military combat roles. Although the media is largely united against him, opinions among combat veterans and military experts are more split.
Will Thibeau, a former Army Ranger with multiple combat deployments, told Fox News Digital that he agrees with Hegseth wholeheartedly.
"I think soon-to-be Secretary Hegseth stated simple truths that 12 years ago were commonly understood and affirmed by the senior-most leaders in the Pentagon, the rank and file of the military and the culture at large, that war and in particular units that are made and forged to fight in war with no other purpose are units meant for men and men only," he said.
"Biological sex and relationships between men and women is a reality that you can't avoid," he added. "And when you induce stress, physical uncertainty, physical proximity and unique scenarios to that biological reality, you get a fracture of what would have been a typical military team, or a military unit forged for warfighting."
Hegseth, 44, is a former Fox News host and Army infantry officer who served two combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional deployment to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Trump tapped Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, one of the most influential positions in his cabinet, on Nov. 13, just over a week after he won the election. The president-elect said of Hegseth that "nobody fights harder for the Troops" and "with Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice."
However, Hegseth is facing a great deal of pushback from Democrats and the media, most especially for his comments on a Nov. 7 episode of the "Shawn Ryan Show" podcast in which he said, "I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles."
Hegseth asserted that women serving in combat roles "hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal" and "has made fighting more complicated."
He did not argue against women serving in the military or even in non-ground combat roles such as in the Air Force. Rather, he made the point that the U.S. military has been lowering its physical standards to allow more women to be eligible to serve in combat roles, something that he said increases the risk of combat complications and fatalities.
He said, "I love women service members who contribute amazingly," but asserted that "everything about women serving together makes the situation more complicated and complication in combat means casualties are worse."
He also criticized the upper echelons of military leadership for changing standards and prioritizing filling diversity quotas above combat effectiveness. He pointed to a 2015 study by the Marine Corps that found that integrated male-female units did "drastically worse" in terms of combat effectiveness than all-male units.
"Between bone density and lung capacity and muscle strength, men and women are just different," he said. "So, I’m ok with if you maintain the standards just where they are for everybody, and if there’s some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered."
Hegseth noted that he was not necessarily advocating for making the change right now, commenting; "Imagine the demagoguery in Washington, D.C., if you were actually making the case for, you know, ‘We should scale back women in combat.’"
"As the disclaimer for everybody out there," he added, "we’ve all served with women and they’re great, it’s just our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where … over human history, men are more capable."
Despite this, Ellen Haring, a retired Army colonel, told Fox News Digital that many women and men in the military are concerned about Hegseth becoming secretary and instituting these changes.
"Women who are in these combat jobs and many of them have been there for six, eight years now, are very energized and concerned about the idea that they might lose their jobs," she said.
According to Haring, there are 2,500 women currently serving in ground combat roles in Army infantry, armor, field artillery branches as well as special forces. She also said that 152 women have earned Army Ranger tabs and there are currently ten women in the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.
She said that despite women making up only a quarter of all West Point Academy graduates they accounted for a third of all lieutenants slotted to armor combat units.
"There's no indication that any of those units have been harmed by their presence," she said. "So, Hegseth claims that adding women to these units is going to create a degree of complication and is somehow or another puts people at risk. That hasn't happened at any unit that we've seen so far. So, I don't know where he's coming up with these notions."
Beyond not harming units, Haring went on to say that women have helped to improve the professionalism of units, especially infantry units.
"Infantry units had a culture of hazing and kind of abuse of each other," she said. "Their presence there has turned a spotlight on that kind of behavior and has actually eliminated a lot of it across the force. So, this kind of brutal behavior that infantry units engaged in amongst themselves is slowly being eradicated by the women's presence."
Similarly, Captain Micah Ables, an Army Infantry company commander, told Fox News Digital that women in his unit have improved the "team player" attitude of the company as well as broadened its capabilities when deployed.
Ables’ first deployment to Afghanistan was with an all-male unit, however, he later deployed with one of the first integrated companies in the infantry. He said that though there was some initial pushback and tension, the female soldiers in his unit quickly proved themselves as capable and the company adapted without too much issue.
He said that many of the women in his unit have proved to be some of the most physically and tactically capable leaders and soldiers under his command.
"Once I did take over the mixed-gender company, I didn't really know what to expect," he said. "But they dug in, and they did what they needed to do to be experts."
On the other hand, Jessie Jane Duff, a retired female gunnery sergeant in the Marines, told Fox News Digital that allowing women to fill combat roles is a "lethal mistake."
She also cited the study by the Marines that she said found that integrated units were only 60 percent as effective as all-male units and women were between 20 and 30 percent more prone to injury.
"From a biological level. We're not equal," she said. "With the lack of testosterone, women take a longer time to recover and rebuild muscle because they lack that testosterone. Whereas men who also get severely injured based upon the training have a higher rate of being able to come back into the combat unit and perform."
"Why would you water down the effectiveness of our infantry units? You're watering it down because you're trying to reach a goal of equality," she went on. "You can have the opportunity to pass, but you should not be accommodated because of your gender when a more qualified man could take that slot."
Finally, Anna Simons, a retired professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, told Fox News Digital that it comes down to diversity versus similarity.
"Women have been in combat from the beginning of time," she said. "They've defended their children, they've defended their property, they've defended husbands, they’ve fought valiantly, that's absolutely true. But the issue isn't women in combat. The issue is women in combat units, small groups of individuals where everybody needs to be essentially interchangeable and equally proficient at certain combat skills."
"The whole point of combat is to wield violence and to be able to absorb violence," she said. "So there has to be a sameness or similarity to people so that they become easily interchangeable when it comes to fundamental skills, shoot, move and communicate skills."
"Everybody needs a baseline of that, and you want the baseline to be as high as possible," she concluded. "That means that people need to be less similar rather than more diverse in their capabilities."
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended his efforts to expand diversity in the military during a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday.
Austin affirmed to NBC News his belief that having women and increased diversity in the U.S. military "makes us stronger."
"I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation," Austin told NBC. "I would tell you that, you know, our women are the finest troops in the world. Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world."
"They do impact readiness. They make us better. They make us stronger. And again, what I've seen from our women is quite incredible, and I'm not — this is not hyperbole. This is fact," Austin said.
The interview comes roughly a week after President-elect Donald Trump nominated veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be Austin's successor. Austin did not mention Hegseth directly in his comments, but the interview comes days after clips resurfaced of Hegseth arguing against using women in combat roles. He has also been vocally opposed to prioritizing diversity over effectiveness in the military.
Meanwhile, officials at the Pentagon are bracing for sweeping policy changes under the incoming Trump administration, and some high-level officers could find their careers on the chopping block.
The Trump administration is expected to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across the government, including in the military.
"If you want to have a sex change or a social justice seminar, then you can do it somewhere else, but you’re not going to do it in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Space Force or the United States Marines. Sorry," Trump said at an Aug. 21 rally in Asheboro, North Carolina.
"The military brass that led these absurd and insulting initiatives will likewise be removed, and they will no longer be in command. They’re going to be gone. Gone so fast," he added.
Fox News' Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is being blasted for tattoos that some allege are symbols of White supremacy and Christian nationalism.
Hegseth, 44, is a former Fox News host and retired Army major who served in the infantry and was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Like many current and former military members, Hegseth has an array of tattoos with Christian and American symbolism.
One of the tattoos garnering the most attention is a symbol on Hegseth’s chest known as the "Jerusalem Cross," which consists of one large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses.
Hegseth, an evangelical Christian, has said that the cross is a symbol of his Christian faith, but his detractors have said the Jerusalem Cross is an indicator of extremism, White supremacist and Christian nationalist sentiment. Some have even mistaken it for the Nazi swastika.
According to Hegseth, concern over the tattoo caused his leadership in the District of Columbia National Guard to pull him from a mission to guard the inauguration of President Biden and ultimately factored into his decision to retire from the military.
According to Father David Grenier, a Catholic priest and member of the religious order the Holy Land Franciscan Friars, which uses the Jerusalem Cross as its symbol, the cross originated in Eastern Christianity sometime in the fifth and sixth centuries and was later adopted by crusaders and the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1291.
The cross, which adorns Grenier’s habit, continues to be used by his order today. The cross is also the emblem of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Catholic order, the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
He explained to Fox News Digital that the Jerusalem Cross has a dual meaning of representing the five wounds of Christ’s crucifixion and the gospel being taken to every corner of the world. In the latter interpretation, he said that the large cross represents Jerusalem from which the gospels reach the north, south, east and west, which are represented by the four smaller crosses.
While he said that he cannot speak to why Hegseth chose to tattoo the Jerusalem Cross on himself, he is not familiar with the cross being used to represent Christian supremacy sentiments. On the contrary, he said that the cross symbolizes the message of salvation being taken to all people. He also said that it is a fairly common practice for Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem to tattoo a Jerusalem Cross on themselves as a sign that they have visited the holy city.
"That was something that was happening, not necessarily for everyone, but for many people who traveled," he said. "And even today, when they go to the Holy Land to have the Jerusalem cross tattooed on their body."
One of those modern pilgrims with a Jerusalem Cross tattoo is Father Mike Schmitz, a podcaster, youth speaker and one of the most well-known Catholic priests in America.
In a video explaining his tattoo, Schmitz said that it serves as a reminder that "I never, ever, no matter what–I never want to be able to take off Jesus."
"If you are baptized, you’ve been clothed in Christ. You can’t take Him off. Same with me. I’ve been clothed in Christ in my baptism, and I can’t take him off, even if I wanted to. But there is some kind of expression of that. Now it’s on my arm," he said.
Similarly, Jennifer Greenberg, an evangelical author and composer, told Fox News Digital that the Jerusalem Cross is also very common in evangelical circles.
She said she was "shocked" to see the cross being compared to a swastika online, which compelled her to respond in a viral X post.
"To see something so beautiful and so precious, such a symbol of rich Christian heritage equated with Nazism, you know, white supremacy, it was just really disgusting," she said.
According to Greenberg, the cross continues to be worn by pastors and to adorn Bibles and Christian books.
She also pointed out that Hegseth’s other controversial tattoos, "Deus Vult" and "Join or Die," are common Christian and American symbols and are not associated with extremism.
The "Join or Die" tattoo, which depicts a chopped-up snake, is a political cartoon first published in 1754 in Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia newspaper. The cartoon was intended to encourage the various American colonies to unite over a common cause and became one of the most well-known symbols of the Revolutionary War.
However, perhaps more controversial is the Deus Vult tattoo, Latin for "God wills it." This saying was a common battle cry during the Crusades, but, as Greenberg explained, it is also a common saying in Christianity indicating trust and abandonment of oneself to God’s providence.
"What they were saying is, ‘God, no matter what happens to me, if I die in battle, if I'm terribly injured, no matter what happens, may your will be done,’" she said. "I think it makes a lot of sense that someone like Pete Hegseth, being a veteran, would resonate with that kind of symbol because, as a veteran, as a soldier, he would have gone into battle. He would have walked between landmines, and this would have been a comforting thought for him. No matter what happens to me, God, let your will be done."
