The United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, kicked off this Friday with a video of a morning physical training session alongside soldiers and marines.
He posted a video on his official account on X where he referred to the troops as “the true backbone of America”. He addressed the soldiers with a motivational speech: “It is an honor to be here. This is the best view, I am convinced, looking at all of you.”
"They could be doing many other things, but they choose to serve. They choose to serve this great country in uniform, in dangerous areas, on behalf of the American people," stated the secretary before the assembled troops.
The Secretary of War has drawn all eyes in Singapore during an intense training day with soldiers assigned to the USS Boxer, according to El Mundo.
The strategic training of the U.S. Army.
Hegseth emphasized the strategic importance of that preparation: "Thanks to what you do and how you do it, I can sit at a table to talk about deterrence and American strength."
The gesture also takes place during the full deployment of the Southern Spear Operation, active since September 2025 in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific under the command of Southern Command.
The operation involves more than 4,500 marines, ships such as the USS Iwo Jima, the USS Fort Lauderdale, and the USS San Antonio, and has been interpreted as a sign of direct geopolitical pressure towards Cuba and Venezuela.
Hegseth himself boarded the USS Iwo Jima in September 2025 to address the deployed Marines, describing the mission as a "real exercise," and in January of the same year, that same ship welcomed Nicolás Maduro following his capture.
On May 23, the Southern Command continued operations in the Caribbean with the USS Iwo Jima and USS Lake Erie off the coast of Venezuela, delivering an implicit message to Havana.
The contrast with the Cuban high military command
Cuba and the United States are experiencing an escalation of military tension. The image of the U.S. Secretary of Defense exercising with his Marines is, in itself, a message about the gap between the two armies.
The Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba, Álvaro López Miera, is 82 years old and has held the rank of Army Corps General since 2001.
The other senior leaders of the FAR—Joaquín Quintas Solá, Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, and Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas—are elderly figures who appear publicly at ceremonial events in dress uniform, with no record of physical activity or joint training with their troops.
It is hard to imagine that aged and distant leadership replicating Hegseth's scene: getting up at dawn, putting on sportswear, and sweating alongside their soldiers.
The military deployment in the Caribbean has cost between 2 billion and 3 billion dollars since August 2025, according to estimates from Bloomberg and specialized analysts, and by April 2026 it had accumulated more than 50 interdiction operations in the region.
Hegseth closed his speech to the troops with a phrase that encapsulates the doctrine he has promoted from the Pentagon: "May God guide you in your mission. You have a lot of good work ahead in the name of the American people. We are with you all the way. Go get them."
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