Secretary Hegseth Spends Thanksgiving With Deployed Sailors Fighting Narco-Terror Networks

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spent Thanksgiving doing exactly what a cabinet secretary should be doing: standing alongside the men and women who protect this nation while the rest of us enjoy turkey and football with our families.

The facts are simple. Hegseth traveled to the Latin American region to visit Navy sailors deployed aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and the USS Winston S. Churchill guided-missile destroyer. These sailors are supporting Operation Southern Spear, a critical mission targeting narco-terror networks that threaten American security. While most Americans gathered around dining room tables, these service members stood watch thousands of miles from home.

In a video message, Hegseth, accompanied by his wife Jennifer, explained their decision to spend the holiday with deployed troops. “I was deployed three times — was always thinking about my family and hoped they were gathering with food and football and all those things,” Hegseth said. “These folks won’t be. We’re going to bring them maybe a turkey and a little bit of cheer.”

This is leadership. This is what accountability looks like. The Secretary of War understanding the sacrifice required of our military because he has lived it himself.

The Hegseths were filmed serving Thanksgiving plates to sailors, with the secretary joking, “I give out too much candy at Halloween and too much turkey on Thanksgiving.” It is a small gesture, perhaps, but it matters. It demonstrates that this administration recognizes the human cost of military service.

During his address to the crew aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, Hegseth delivered a message that should resonate with every American. “Happy Thanksgiving from me, the Secretary of War. Happy Thanksgiving from the President of the United States. Happy Thanksgiving from a grateful nation,” he said.

Hegseth also addressed Wednesday’s attack on two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., a stark reminder that threats to American service members exist both abroad and at home. “Our minds are also in Washington, D.C., with the two great Americans who were ambushed and targeted,” Hegseth said. “And we’re prayerful for them, for all those around them, for their families.”

The secretary connected these two groups of service members, those patrolling the nation’s capital and those interdicting cartels at sea, as part of the same mission: defending the American people. “Whether it’s in our nation’s capital, walking patrol, or whether it’s in our nation’s hemisphere, out at sea, interdicting cartels, defending the American people — we are grateful for you,” Hegseth told the sailors.

This is the appropriate prioritization of military leadership. While previous administrations focused on social engineering and diversity initiatives, this administration has returned to the fundamental mission: defending America and supporting those who do the defending.

Operation Southern Spear represents a serious approach to the narco-terror threat emanating from Latin America. These networks do not simply traffic drugs; they destabilize entire regions, fuel violence, and directly threaten American communities. The deployment of carrier strike groups to combat these networks demonstrates strategic thinking about hemispheric security.

The contrast could not be clearer. Here is a Secretary of War who has served in combat, who understands deployment, and who chooses to spend a major American holiday with troops in the field rather than at comfortable Washington receptions. This is not performative. This is genuine respect for military service.

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