The 1990 Military Was A Standard Bearer For Warfighting And A Golden Age

On September 30, 2025 all American flag officers (Generals and Admirals) were addressed as a group in one location. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, delivered the primary address. The principle point of Hegseth’s speech was stressing to our senior leadership the importance of warfighting above all else. In giving his general guidance for decision making, Hegseth gave two yardsticks: First was whether the decision make sense to E6s and O3s (Staff Sergeants and Captains). Second was the standards of the military in 1990, “as good a place to start” to restoring the “warrior ethos”.

In the knee-jerk left media criticism of Hegseth, the Washington Post alleged that 1990 was actually a “dark time” for the military. Having started my career during that era and then served through the eras Hegseth is now trying to fix, I must vehemently dispute the Washington Post.

First, the Post article wasn’t just an opinion piece published (but not endorsed) by the Washington Post, but it written by the Chief Political Correspondent, Karen Tumulty. The full title of her misleading, distorted dribble was “Hegseth Wants to Return to 1990 – A Dark Time in It’s History.” Tumulty appeared to know one thing from that “period”: the Tailhook scandal. This scandal involved certain participants at a Las Vegas (annual) convention of Naval Aviators held Oct, 1991. The findings of alleged sexual assaults/harassment were published throughout the military about a year later and hundreds of careers were ended. That appeared to be the almost sole reason she gives for 1990 being a dark time. (Washington Post, Sept. 30, 2025)

Little to nothing about the many positives of the time, like winning the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 and decisively defeating the fourth largest military in the world in 100 hours.

I have a personal perspective about this, having entered the Army as a cadet at The Citadel in 1986 and commissioned as an Infantry officer in 1990. My childhood was as a son of a Vietnam veteran career Army officer. My remembrance of the end of the Vietnam War up until 1990 was of that generation of officers who served in Vietnam and stayed to fix the problems they saw from Vietnam and of the broken military afterwards. Army Chief of Staff Edward Charles “Shy” Meyer called the 1970s Army a “hollow Army” due to shortfalls in personnel, equipment, staffing, morale, recruiting, discipline. (Heritage Foundation, Oct.16, 2020)

Thankfully, that period was turned around. Starting in 1981, President Ronald Reagan pumped substantial money into the military, while those junior leaders from Vietnam put all emphasis on warfighting and professionalism. The Combat Training Centers were developed and became priority for unit readiness. The “After Action Reviews” I remember as a cadet and junior officer were ruthlessly honest in exposing combat shortfalls. The distractions from warfighting that had become pervasive in the 1970s were ended. In 1990 we officers were all warned about the high moral standards expected. Deviant sexual behavior, including adultery, was not tolerated, and even fraternization could end a career.

In 1990, the perception within was of the military being the most meritocratic and colorblind of any institution in the nation. The highest-ranking officer and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was Colin Powell. Even as the civilian media made it a big deal, those of us serving didn’t think much of a black man as senior officer as we really were colorblind and knew he rose on merit.

During the Obama and Biden administrations the military went drastically off track from the warrior ethos

The standards were high in 1990, as the Army was cutting down from a Cold War high of over 800,000 to only half a million troops (other services saw similar cuts). What had been almost guaranteed promotion to Captain before 1990 was not. We all had to compete hard for any promotion or school by showing warfighting expertise. With regards Tailhook, what happened there had occurred for many years prior at those annual conventions. Women going to a certain floor most were aware and went through a “gauntlet” of men grabbing them while drunk. This explanation is not to defend what happened, and those involved rightly lost their careers. The Tailhook scandal was an aberration, and not a reflection of the focus on warfighting and the warrior ethos.

Unfortunately, during the Obama and Biden administrations the military went drastically off track from the warrior ethos those Vietnam leaders had built. Ridiculous diversions from Warfighting crept in due to progressive political agendas being forced on the military. The time military members had to spend in sexual and gender related “training” (acceptance of what was previously considered deviant and harmful) became inordinate. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion agendas destroyed the meritocratic perception. The infiltration of divisive and destructive Critical Race Theory concepts became pervasive and harmful. Recruitment sank to the lowest points in history during the Biden administration, as military veterans and military families lost faith seeing the military of 1990 falling apart.

Jeremiah 6:16 instructs us to "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: 'Where is the good way?' Then walk in it..” The good way, not the “dark time” was the military of 1990. It’s time for us to walk in it again.”

Col. Bill Connor——Bio and Archives – Col. Bill Connor is a retired U.S. Army Infantry officer, attorney, and founding partner of NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. While in the Army, Connor logged multiple deployments to the Middle East, and he has commanded both light Infantry and Ranger training companies. From 2007 through 2008 he was deployed to Afghanistan where he became the senior U.S. military adviser in Helmand Province. Since the start of the October 2023 war in Israel, he has provided analysis to NEWSMAX.