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Secretary Hegseth Delivers the State of the Force Address at Quantico, Sep. 30, 2026

September 30, 2026 · Department of War · 0:57:35

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered his State of the Force address to military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on September 30, 2026, in a full address published by the Department of War. Some 600 officers and service members attended, according to reporting on the address.

The announcement of the day: “Today at my direction, I’m establishing the Office of Religious Affairs,” Hegseth said, saying chaplains would finally have “an advocate at the highest levels” of the department. The new office would report directly to him, protect chaplains’ budgets and strengthen religious support across the force, he said: “We asked chaplains to serve and sacrifice and then sideline them with paperwork and process. Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother the mission.” He framed the move in explicitly religious terms: “Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God. Because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” as reported from the address. In the same remarks he also confirmed a 20% cut to the ranks of generals and admirals, according to the same reporting. The Pentagon said the office would advocate for chaplains without compelling religious participation or favoring one faith — a claim that drew swift criticism from church-state separation advocates, as the reporting noted.

Why it matters

The State of the Force address is the Secretary’s annual account of his department to its own leadership, and this one made two structural moves at once: a new religious-affairs office reporting directly to the Secretary, and a one-fifth reduction in the flag-officer ranks he confirmed on the same stage — both now checkable against the department’s subsequent actions.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs and the confirmed 20% cut to general and admiral ranks, as announced on September 30, 2026. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of War, “STATE OF THE FORCE ADDRESS,” September 30, 2026 (official upload, embedded above); reporting on the address, October 2026, on the Office of Religious Affairs announcement and the flag-officer reduction. Quotations as reported from the address.