‘Salute and execute’: A new generation of military veterans takes center stage as Trump remakes US foreign policy

At the start of his first term, President Donald Trump filled several top jobs with retired generals — high-ranking veterans who served in leadership positions during the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At the start of his first term, President Donald Trump filled several top jobs with retired generals — high-ranking veterans who served in leadership positions during the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, a collection of grunts, foot soldiers and young officers who carried out rather than planned America’s so-called global war on terror are among Trump’s top advisers and officials. Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were all low- to mid-ranking soldiers when they deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Only Waltz, a former Green Beret, is over 50. Together, they form a key component of Trump’s national security team — and represent a generation of younger veterans that is often described as disillusioned, inherently skeptical of traditional institutions that many see as having failed them across years of inconclusive wars in the Middle East. It’s a worldview that maps neatly onto Trump’s messaging, including his stated reluctance to using the American military abroad and his broader distrust of government agencies and the so-called deep state. Many of Trump’s appointees drawn from the global war against terror ranks — Gabbard and Hegseth in particular — have faced intense criticism from both sides of the aisle that they are underqualified for cabinet-level roles, jobs that have traditionally been seen as requiring experience either conducting strategic foreign policy oversight or having leadership over a larger organization.