The hysteria surrounding the news that the secretary of defense had summoned nearly all American general and flag officers and their senior enlisted advisers to Quantico, Va., was a sight to behold. Speculation in the press ranged, ludicrously, from the idea that Pete Hegseth would require the generals to swear a new loyalty oath to President Trump to that the secretary planned to use the opportunity to publicly fire disfavored officers.

The reality was more mundane, which is not to say that it was unimportant. Hegseth wanted to speak to his senior subordinates, in person, as he announced a renewed focus for the Pentagon: a merit-based culture and high standards of physical fitness and training in order to deter and, if necessary, win wars. While the ordering of these 800 senior officers from all around the world to Marine Corps Base Quantico was unusual and without modern precedent, it is entirely understandable that the leader of an organization that numbers almost 3 million Americans would want the opportunity to look his most senior subordinates in the eye as he announced a new direction for his department. And the security risks — while not nil — were overstated by his critics: Every American overseas combatant command and every military formation worldwide has contingency plans for deputies to take temporary charge if the commanding officer is off deck.

So what did Hegseth announce? Commonsense changes that are meant to return the United States military to a high state of readiness unencumbered by “woke” baggage or politically mandated diversity directives.

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” Hegseth declared. “No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions.”

“We are done with that sh**,” the secretary of defense said, turning to rather blue language that will no doubt be popular with the troops.

Going forward, all ranks, services, and military occupational specialties will be required to conduct physical training — “PT” — every duty day, no exceptions. All hands will be required to take two annual service-specific PT tests and pass his or her service’s height and weight standards twice yearly. Basic training will be toughened, drill sergeants will be unleashed, grooming standards will be tightened and enforced, rules and regulations regarding hazing will be reviewed to ensure that commanders and NCOs are given a freer hand to discipline low performers while staying within the law, and a zero-defect and risk-adverse culture in the military will be rooted out.

In what will surely make headlines, Hegseth announced that “each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS, for every designated combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only.” “If women can make it, excellent,” the defense secretary set forth. “If not, it is what it is. If that means no women for some combat jobs, so be it.” Moreover, any unit or military school house in which “tried and true physical standards were altered — especially since 2015 when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify — must be returned to their original standard.”

These initiatives will surely be popular with the troops, who will appreciate the emphasis on hard training and high standards and the sidelining of out-of-shape malingerers.

But, of course, the devil will be in the details and the execution. For example, Hegseth told the assembled generals and admirals that he would only require them to follow lawful orders from their elected and civilian leadership. He promised an end to “stupid,” “politically correct,” and “overbearing rules of engagement.” But the question of whether President Trump’s military action against suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers on the high seas rests on lawful ground, and whether the rules of engagement used in such operations are appropriate, is in dispute as we — no friends of the drug cartels — have noted.

Donald Trump followed up Hegseth’s tight remarks with an hour-and-15-minute-long rambling speech. Trump said he told his defense secretary that we should use dangerous cities “as training grounds for our military,” as if having the National Guard stand in front of ICE facilities will prepare them for combat.

The address — which was a classic Trump stump speech in its attacks on domestic political enemies, claims about stolen elections, crowing about winning the swing states, and casual rhetoric about how he’d like to “take out” radical leftists and the “invasion from within” — was unseemly from a commander in chief speaking to that audience in that setting.

The U.S. military has one purpose: to kill people and break things in defense of our Constitution and our way of life. If implemented with both verve and prudence, Pete Hegseth’s commonsense reforms will profit the American profession of arms.