The internet has gone wild for a hulking Special Forces agent after he was spotted on an early morning run with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, 44, was pictured pumping iron and jogging outdoors during a trip to Germany, where he is visiting senior military leaders at US command centers.
But social media users were more interested in a man pictured flanking Hegseth, who appeared to be one of the US Special Forces agents stationed in the country.
The man was seen with a huge smile on his face as he jogged with ease during their dawn workout in Stuttgart, south-west Germany on Tuesday morning.
‘Super hot’, one person commented below the image on X, while others posted gifs expressing the same sentiment on the Elon Musk-owned platform.
‘Dude needs to be in all recruitment material moving forward,’ one person wrote. ‘More men like this!!!!!’ another said beside a gif of a man applauding.
‘Real Life Hulk?’ one person said, while another wrote: ‘Look at this absolute UNIT’.
DailyMail.com has contacted the Department of Defense for clarification on the man’s role in the US military.
The internet is going wild for a hulking Special Forces agent (pictured left) after he was spotted on an early morning run with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (center)
Social media users were more interested in a man pictured flanking Hegseth, who appeared to be one of the US Special Forces agents stationed in Stuttgart, Germany
Hegseth shared the image on X along with several others of himself working out as the sun rose and posing with Special Forces agents at a base.
‘Strength equals readiness. Kicked off the day with PT alongside the warriors of 1/10 SFG,’ he wrote.
‘No bureaucracy—just sharp minds, strong bodies, and a mission-first mindset.’
Hegseth’s trip to Stuttgart got off to a rocky start when an active-duty general in the US Army blasted his anti-DEI crackdown in the military.
The anonymous soldier told Military.com the decision to abandon its diversity hiring targets at a prestigious event for black engineers was ‘f***ing racist.’
‘For the Army now, it’s ‘blacks need not apply’ and it breaks my heart,’ the general said.
Hours later, Hegseth confirmed that President Donald Trump’s administration would not be sending US troops into Ukraine amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in the eastern European nation.
Speaking with reporters in Germany, Hegseth also said that he would push European allies to spend more on defense when he meets with them this week.
‘The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that individual and collective defense,’ he said.
Hegseth, 44, was pictured pumping iron and jogging outdoors on Tuesday morning during a trip to Germany, where he is visiting senior military leaders at US command centers
Hegseth joined US military personnel in Stuttgart, Germany for a PT session Tuesday morning
The internet is going wild for a hulking Special Forces agent after he was spotted on an early morning run with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Stuttgart, Germany
While flying to Stuttgart on Monday night, Hegseth also signed a memorandum announcing that Fort Liberty would be again named Fort Bragg – but with a twist.
In 2023, Fort Bragg – located outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina – was renamed Fort Liberty, so that it would no longer be named after a Confederate general.
The base was originally named Fort Bragg in 1918 after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, a slaveowner who was also so inept that he helped the Confederacy lose the Civil War to U.S. forces.
Hegseth announced on Monday night that Fort Bragg would return to its original name, but paying heed to World War II fighter Ronald L. Bragg instead.
A Pentagon spokesperson described Bragg as a soldier ‘who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge.’
‘That’s right, Bragg is back,’ Hegseth said in a video released by the Pentagon.
The move fulfils a campaign promise made by President Donald Trump during an October visit to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, the military started renaming bases which paid tribute to Confederate officers, who had sought to preserve slavery during the Civil War.
But Trump has hit back against these calls for change, instead making the issue about preserving American culture instead of maintaining hurtful terms related to the country’s racist past.
The Pentagon released a picture of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signing a memorandum renaming Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg – but Fort Bragg 2.0 will be named after a different servicemember, not the Confederate general
Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 after Americans pushed to remove names from military bases of members of the Confederacy, who fought to preserve slavey in the United States during the Civil War
Historians said Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg ‘did as much as any Confederate general to lose’ the Civil War. Fort Bragg was targeted for a renaming after the May 2020 death of George Floyd that prompted the Black Lives Matter protests
Weeks after Floyd’s death, Trump announced that he would ‘not even consider’ renaming military bases named after members of the Confederacy.
‘These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom,’ Trump said in June 2020.
‘The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars.
‘Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.’
After he lost the next election to Biden, Trump went so far that he vetoed a major military spending bill in December 2020 because it contained the provision to rename the bases.
Trump didn’t buy an argument made by former CIA Director, Gen. David Petraeus, that American bases shouldn’t be named after military members who fought against the U.S. – the basic definition of anyone involved in the Confederacy.
But in a way, the original Bragg did the United States a favor.
Historians have said Bragg ‘did as much as any Confederate general to lose the war’ because of his string of military defeats.
