Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth received an important grammar lesson after he proudly announced his new "Less Generals More GIs" policy in a video on social media.
Hegseth has announced a two-phase plan to cut the number of military generals and flag officers by 20%, saying the move is intended to enhance “strategic readiness and operational effectiveness.” The first phase will eliminate at least 20% of active-duty four-star officers, while the second will carry out a broader 10% reduction across the Department of Defense, tied to a restructuring of the Unified Command Plan.
Hegseth defended the “historic” order as consistent with President Donald Trump’s broader “commitment to achieving peace through strength,” framing the reductions as a strategic realignment rather than a weakening of U.S. military leadership:
“My title is ‘Less Generals More GIs.' ... We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters."
Hegseth argued that the number of high-ranking military officials has grown disproportionately compared to the size of the armed forces, noting that during World War II, just 17 four- and five-star generals oversaw 12 million troops, while today, 44 four-star generals and flag officers command a force of only 2.1 million.
He said:
“More generals and admirals does not equal more success. Now, this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth."
"This has been a deliberative process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
But people couldn't help but noticea glaring issue with Hegseth's "Less Generals More GIs" initiative.
"Less" is used with uncountable nouns (e.g., less water, less sugar), while "fewer" is used with countable nouns (e.g., fewer cars, fewer mistakes).
The issue with the phrase "Less Generals, More GIs" is that "generals" is a countable noun, so grammatically, it should be, "Fewer Generals, More GIs." "Less" is incorrect here because you can count the number of generals—just as you can count GIs—so "fewer" is the proper word to use.
Hegseth was swiftly mocked online.
You might want to brush up on your English there, Pete.
@WhiteHouse/X
@HomelandSecurityDems