Don’t expect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to apologize for failing to use gender-inclusive language when congratulating “our boys in bombers” who took out Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Mr. Hegseth lashed out at the media’s “obsession with race and gender” after he was chided for his initial word choice in describing the weekend attack on three Iranian nuclear sites.
“Why not acknowledge the female pilot that also participated in this mission?” asked Associated Press reporter Tara Copp at Thursday’s Pentagon briefing. “The early messages that you sent out only congratulated the boys.”
Mr. Hegseth responded with a figurative eye roll, saying, “This is the kind of thing the press does.”
“Of course, the chairman mentioned a female bomber pilot. That’s fantastic. She’s fantastic. She’s a hero,” said Mr. Hegseth. “I want more female bomber pilots. I hope the men and women of our country sign up to do such brave and audacious things.”
The secretary was joined at the briefing by Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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Mr. Hegseth said he would continue to use expressions like “boys on those bombers,” calling it a “common phrase,” regardless of the service members’ sex.
“I’ll keep saying things like that whether they’re men or women,” Mr. Hegseth. “I’m very proud of that female pilot, just like I’m very proud of those male pilots. I don’t care if it’s a male or a female in that cockpit, and the American people don’t care. But it’s the obsession with race and gender — in this department that’s changed priorities, and we don’t do that anymore. We don’t play your little games.”
The New York Times was roundly mocked on social media after upbraiding Mr. Hegseth in a Sunday report for referring to the B-2 pilots as “our boys on those bombers.”
The latest exchange prompted more guffaws from the stands.
“You know who’s not going to be easily offended by the colloquial phrase ‘our boys’?” asked the @SunnyRight account on X. “The type of woman flying 37 hours in a strategic bomber to drop hundreds of thousands of pounds of explosives onto enemy nuclear targets in an active war zone.”
Real America’s Voice blared in all capital letters: “’Our boys in bombers’ is a generalization.”
Others accused the media of being patronizing.
“They want women to be treated [as] equal but also think women need [to be] patted on the head for doing the same job as a man,” Lynn Sweat posted on X. “That just shows they think women need special treatment and don’t look at them as equal.”
• Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.