U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth joined Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn on the Iowa State Fairgrounds Monday afternoon to honor Iowa veterans and make the case for a 40% increase in military spending.
Hegseth was originally scheduled to headline the annual “Operation Top Gun” fundraiser for Iowa’s third district congressman in March, but the event was rescheduled for yesterday during the State Fair. Hegseth told the crowd Nunn is a combat veteran who understands the need to invest in the military.
“What President Trump has promised is a generational investment in our warriors and our warfighters that is required for the dangerous world we live in today,” Hegseth said, to cheers.
Hegseth said his challenge right now is to ensure the Pentagon is properly funded. “A $1.5 trillion budget is what is necessary to ensure that my kids and your kids, that your grandkids and my grandkids live in a free country defended by the most powerful military in the world,” Hegseth said, to cheers.
The event was held on the stage inside JR’s Southpork Ranch, which calls itself “the finest waterin’ hole at the Iowa State Fair.” Nunn’s supporters packed the venue’s first floor and a second floor seating area and watched Nunn honor veterans support organizations. Nunn read aloud the names of the Iowa soldiers who were killed in combat in Kuwait in March. The families of the two Iowa National Guard soldiers who were killed by an ISIS gunman in Syria in December came on stage and Nunn gave each family the Iowa Medal of Merit, a decoration that honors Iowa National Guard soldiers.
“One of the things that we do when we wrap our arms around a family here, not only do we pray over them, not only are we with them, we recognize their service. That’s what days like this are about,” Nunn said. “Recognizing how we can help those who survive with us and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.”
Near the end of Hegseth’s remarks, he asked the Gold Star families in the audience to raise their hands, then Hegseth led the crowd in applause. “There is a cost to doing very difficult things, to going out and defending your country and ensuring radical Islamist crazies don’t get a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said, as the crowd applauded. “I’m not willing to look my kids in the eye and say we had a chance to do something about it, but we didn’t.”
Nunn told the crowd he’s working to increase troop pay and bring a fighter jet mission back to the Iowa National Guard Air Base, which is currently a command center for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Nunn is seeking a third term in the U.S. House this November. Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democrat who’s running against Nunn, said leaders should be focused on ending the war with Iran and she said it was “disgraceful” for Nunn and Hegseth to campaign together in Iowa “while our service members are under threat and facing poor conditions overseas.”
