In a Senate hearing today to confirm Pete Hegseth’s nomination for U.S. Defense Secretary, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R. Ala., said military recruiting was his biggest concern.

“Why would you fight for a country you don’t love? That’s what I keep hearing from a lot of our college kids that they’re getting from these woke universities that they go to now,” Tuberville said.

“That is one of the excuses I get from our kids. We’ve got to break that,” he added.

“I had a young man that forever he wanted to go to West Point. I got him a nomination. I got him accepted and he turned it down. He says, ‘Coach, I’m not getting involved with that mess.’”

Tuberville also said he met with Navy SEALs who “just got back from crawling around in the mud and the muck overseas, unknown places…. First week they’re back, what do they do, they had go through a week of DEI training. Both are now out. They give it up.”

He questioned Hegseth on how he planned to raise enlistment numbers, which have been falling over the last 20 years, according to the Department of Defense.

“I think it comes down to leadership,” Hegseth said.

“Clear leadership from President Trump. Through me,” Hegseth added. “So, you have to rip, root and branch, the politics and divisive policies out of these institutions and focus them on creating and preparing actual future military leadership.”

Referring largely to DEI initiatives, Hegseth said these “divisive policies” are the reason generational military service is becoming less common in America.

“The chain is starting to break with generations of people my age and older talking to their kids and grandkids wondering, pondering, do I want them to serve? Will my country use them responsibly? When that kind of doubt is cast you get serious recruiting problems like we do right now.”

Hegseth said he believes the country will see a “recruiting Renaissance” under Trump’s second presidency.

“That sends signals to the world,” he said.

“To our enemies and our allies alike that is America’s back. And thankfully then we have the men and women of our country willing to want to serve.”

During the hearing Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., questioned Hegseth about his previous comments that women shouldn’t serve in the military.

In a book Hegseth released in 2024, he wrote “Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially not in combat units.”

But Hegseth said Tuesday the comments were “misconstrued.”

Tuberville also questioned Hegseth about the Defense Secretary’s civilian staff growing from 1,500 people in 2001 to 3,000 people last year. And Hegseth promised to trim down senior Pentagon personnel.

Past allegations accusing Hegseth of sexual assault, drinking on the job, and claims by former co-workers that he mismanaged veterans’ organizations he led were also raised as a point of concern during the hearing.

In his exchange with Sen. Joni Ernst, D-Ia., Hegseth said he would appoint a senior level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention in the military but claimed that the allegations against him were a “coordinated smear campaign.”

He went on to say that the media is trying to “destroy” him “because I am a change agent, a threat to them.”