Ex-commander slams Pentagon for turning war into 'video game highlight reel'

Members of the military wait for President Donald Trump to arrive for a meeting convened by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Quantico, Virginia, September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Donald Trump's White House and Pentagon are replacing proper leadership and communication about the war in Iran with "swagger" and "stylized" social media content, according to ex-Army commander Mark Hertling, who further decried the administration for turning war into a "video game highlight reel."

Writing in a piece for The Bulwark on Tuesday, Hertling — who previously served as the commanding general for the U.S. Army's European Command — took aim at the "slick and meaningless" videos recently released by the Trump administration, which presented footage of the conflict with Iran in a manner that was "stylized, dramatic, titillating and not at all like the real thing." The former general went a step further and tarred them as "war porn."

"Videos like these strip away the gravity that should accompany decisions involving sending men and women into harm’s way, potentially to their deaths," Hertling wrote. "I’m not the target audience for these clips: I’m a boomer and a combat veteran, so maybe I don’t understand how this kind of content appeals to younger audiences raised on digital media and immersive graphics. But generational preference doesn’t matter when you’re speaking about the seriousness of war."

He continued: "War is not entertainment. It is not a meme. It is not a cinematic product designed to generate likes and shares. And it should not be influenced by partisan language or hyperbolic and unrealistic statements. War is the realm of the profession of arms, where young Americans—our sons and daughters—carry out missions that involve lethal force under strict legal and ethical obligations."

Hertling further criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's recent rhetoric about the war with Iran, including his insistence that the military would disregard "restrictive... rules of engagement" to avoid "politically correct" warfighting of the past, and his repeated emphasis on the U.S. military's lethality. These sorts of comments, while resonant to some Americans, are also "misleading" about the real gravity of war, Hertling argued.

"Rules of engagement have never been bureaucratic obstacles imposed to handicap the military; they are tools developed by commanders and military lawyers to ensure that force is applied lawfully and strategically, in accordance with the laws of armed conflict, and to avoid war crimes and the misapplication of violence," Hertling explained. "Far from restricting effectiveness, they help ensure that tactical actions support strategic objectives. Showing 'no mercy,' as a graphic posted by the Department of Defense yesterday proclaimed, may be a way to rack up a kill count, but it’s no way to isolate your enemies, multiply your allies, and win a war."

Hertling concluded: "When the imagery of combat begins to look like a video game highlight reel, or when a press briefing uses partisan talking points in place of strategy, we risk forgetting what war is—and what it costs the young Americans of all political backgrounds whom we ask to fight it."

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