Pete Hegseth

 Hegseth is an Army National Guard officer and former executive director of organizations for political advocacy, Vets For Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. The Koch brothers funded the group of conservatives which promotes greater privatization of Department of Veterans Affairs. He was considered to lead the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in the Trump administration, however in January of 2017, David Shulkin was selected instead.Hegseth is active in both conservative and Republican political circles since his time as an student at Princeton University. In 2016, he came out as a staunch advocate and supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and was an advisor occasionally to Trump during his presidency. According to reports, he convinced Trump that three American soldiers convicted or charged with violations of the law in relation to the shooting of noncombatants in Iraq were to be pardoned. Hegseth, who was a commander of a platoon in Guantanamo Bay during his military service, was a vocal advocate for the treatment of inmates detained there.Following the graduation ceremony at Princeton in 2003, Hegseth joined Bear Stearns as an equity capital market analyst. He was also commissioned as a reserve officer in the U.S. Army National Guard. In 2004 his unit was sent to Guantanamo Bay in Guantanamo Bay, where he was an infantry platoon leader with the Minnesota National Guard. The unit was under the direction of the 3rd Battalion 101st Airborne Division. He was given the Army Commendation Medal. After returning from Cuba, Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra in which he was in the position of infantry squad leader and, later in Samarra as a civil-military operations officer. In Iraq, he was given the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and an additional Army Commendation Medal