Does Pete Hegseth, our young, telegenic new secretary of defense, have his own attractive, all female team of heavily armed bodyguards? After a short video of Hegseth climbing a set of stairs to a plane recently made the rounds, many people think so.
In the short clip, two fit, good looking young women in olive drab Air Force flight suits and tactical vests, wearing ear protection and carrying M-4 carbines, as well as M18 Sig Sauer sidearms, were seen standing guard at the foot of the stairs flanking Hegseth as the climbed.
This prompted some to refer to them as “Hegseth’s heavily armed female bodyguards,” even comparing them to the sexy and mostly ornamental “Amazon” guards once favored by ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Some bozos online insultingly called the pair undeserving DEI recruits, others ridiculously speculated that they were Delta Force operators. But, no, all of these folks were wrong.
Closer to the truth, reports Task & Purpose, were those who believed the two were Phoenix-Ravens the Air Force’s specially-trained security forces troops that fly on large transport aircraft like C-17s and C-130s when they travel to unsecure air bases overseas.
An Outkick writer insightfully noted:
The exact unit the two women are in isn’t clear, but it’s almost a certainty they’re members of the Air Force Security Forces. The unit is tasked with protecting air bases and sensitive aircraft, such as a plane carrying the Secretary of Defense, both in the air and on the ground. Specifically, they could be what are called Ravens, an elite subsection of the unit.
In this case, the dynamic duo flanking the stairs were not Ravens, and not there to guard Hegseth himself.
They were in fact members of a small team from the Air Force’s 55th Security Forces Squadron, assigned to guard the plane he was flying on, the secretive National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC), also known as the E-4B Nightwatch “Doomsday” plane.
Unlike the Air Force’s numerous other similarly painted VIP transports based at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the E-4B, is an all-business warplane based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, also home to US Strategic Command—the military’s nuke warfighters.
The Nightwatch is built for the President and SECDEF to execute military operations during major attacks, including nuclear war.
While these security teams are not formally part of Phoenix-Raven, some members have Raven experience or attend the Air Force’s Raven qualification course. Their combat gear is “standard protocol” for the team.
And as Task & Purpose explains, while these two troops just happened to be women, that was just coincidence:
“The two individuals shown in the photo and video are full-time members assigned specifically to the NAOC Security team,” Pierce told Task & Purpose in an email response to questions on the guards. Pierce declined to identify the two women, but said both held the rank of senior airman. “They serve as fly-away security and are officially designated as part of the aircrew. When supporting an overseas mission involving the Secretary of Defense, they closely coordinate with the SecDef’s security team.”
The weapons and kit the two carried may have looked excessive on the ceremony-heavy Andrews flightline but are about what you might expect for guarding a plane at the heart of America’s nuclear arsenal.
“Carrying the M4 and M18 is standard protocol,” said Pierce. “This is part of their authorized lethal loadout and aligns with standing orders for personnel, especially when operating in official capacities such as deployments or movements during missions.
Pierce added:
Becoming a member of NAOC Security is a highly selective and competitive process. Once selected, their training intensifies with aircraft-specific instruction designed to build and sustain the specialized skills required for the mission.
As for the two female airmen being DEI hires, as reported by Task & Purpose, the squadron commander of the 55th Security Forces Squadron, Lt. Col. Andrew Ferguson, had this to say:
The two Senior Airmen [seen Monday] are among the best of the best from 55 SFS’ Recon Raiders, Air Combat Command, and across USAF Security Forces,” said “Only the most professional, most competent, and most lethal members from my squadron get the opportunity to serve on the NAOC Security team.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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thank you for the information
i don’t know who the clown was that said those two were dei hires, but you can bet he voted for kamala