Adam L. Penenberg

Today, I read an article in The Daily Beast—written by Michael Daly—that some military brass within the Pentagon have privately begun referring to Pete Hegseth with the nickname "No Tab Pete" and I nearly spat my drink out. While Mr. Daly offers some good context in the article, it doesn’t quite capture the ruthlessness and humiliation of this nickname, which I believe cuts into the hollowness of Hegseth’s ongoing and cringey search for masculine validation more than anything else I’ve heard or read. In the U.S. Army, there are skill tabs for elite military courses — little, canopy-shaped patches that go on your uniform shoulder and indicate you’ve graduated from that course. There are four such tabs: Special Forces, Ranger, Sapper, and—the newest tab—Jungle. The only context y’all need here is about the Special Forces and Ranger tabs. Just qualifying for acceptance into these courses is difficult, and actually graduating from them is, of course, very difficult. Ranger School is just under nine weeks, assuming you don’t get rolled back. The Special Forces Qualification Course (“Q course”) is at least a year, assuming you don’t get rolled back. They are not for the faint of heart. They suck. They’re brutal. We’re talking very little sleep, little food, constant and ridiculous physical exertion, and being graded the whole time on top of it. Total and complete suckage. And the shitty thing is: even if you manage to make it to the end of the course, there’s a chance you may not graduate and earn the coveted tab. In the culture of the U.S. Army infantry, the Ranger tab takes on enormous importance. If an infantry officer wants to make a career in the Army, she or he needs to earn a Ranger tab. It's basically a requirement to advance up the ladder. You’ll notice I wrote “she” there because many women have graduated from Ranger School since the course was opened up to all genders in 2015; in fact, the most recent confirmed total is at least 154 women. All under the same exact standards as the men. Additionally, there are two women who have earned the Special Forces tab. In 1980, Captain Kathleen Wilder completed the Special Forces Officer Course but was denied graduation over a failed final exercise. She filed a sex discrimination complaint, there was an investigation, and the general overseeing her case found in her favor. She was never an operational Green Beret, but she did earn the tab and was authorized to wear it for the remainder of her career. In 2020, a National Guard soldier completed the entire modern Q course and earned her Special Forces tab and was assigned to an operational unit as an engineer sergeant. Obviously, we don’t know her identity because she serves in a highly classified setting. Because she’s a Green Beret. Badass. These tabs are serious business in the U.S. Army. The old cliché goes something like this: when a new lieutenant arrives at their unit, the commander will shake their hand and immediately look at their shoulder for the tab. Does this really happen? No, but the fact that it's a cliché indicates the importance. If you want to be a true infantry officer, you gotta at least earn either the Ranger tab. Anyway, Pete Hegseth, a former infantry officer, never earned a Ranger tab. He never attended Ranger School. He never attended the Q course. Nor did he attend Sapper School. He hasn’t even attended Airborne School. That’s a very strange thing. Here's this supposedly gung-ho dude who swears to anyone who will listen that he’s a "man's man" and our military isn’t “manly” enough and that women don’t belong in combat arms. This guy has made the very curious and bizarre decision to assess the testosterone levels of our soldiers. He has lectured generals and admirals on “lethality” and military readiness despite the fact that they have far more experience than he ever will with these things. He seems to relish posting videos to Department of Defense social media accounts that show him (poorly) attempting pull-ups and all sorts of other physical things. And yet, when these Army generals and their staffs refer to him as "No Tab Pete," they're calling out his performative masculinity. They're saying he's a little bitch. He didn't have the guts to attend these courses. He's weak. He's not a warrior. No Tab Pete. Delicious. ---- Link to full essay available here for easier sharing: charlotteclymer.substack.com…