Commander: Congratulations to Minnesota American Legion member Pete Hegseth

By American Legion Department of Minnesota

COMMANDER’S STATEMENT

Congratulations to Minnesota American Legion member for becoming a Cabinet official

Attributable to Minnesota Commander Carl Moon

January 28, 2025

The American Legion Department of Minnesota had the great honor on Saturday, Jan. 25, of witnessing one of our own members confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth, a veteran of the Minnesota Army National Guard with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, is an American Legion member at Forest Lake American Legion Post 225.

Hegseth regularly speaks about understanding the military from the viewpoint of the troops, not just the generals, federal politicians and big contractors. Being a member of The American Legion lends credibility to this stance. We are a bottom-up grassroots organization, not top-down. We see the veteran-and-military community from the perspective of the day-to-day troops.

It’s a distinction to have one of our own leading the Department of Defense and its 2.1 million servicemembers, 780,000 civilians and $850 billion budget.

There are many high-profile Minnesotans who are American Legion members, ranging from Gov. Tim Walz to longtime state Sen. Bruce Anderson to motivational speaker John Kriesel. The late newspaperman Jim Klobuchar was a member. So was the late Congressman Jim Ramstad and Vice President Walter Mondale. These are a handful among many from past and present.

Congratulations, Pete. We are proud of you.

Dr. Carl R. Moon is the commander of the Minnesota American Legion.