After the Iran war contributed to Republican losses in the midterms, calls are mounting for Donald Trump to fire Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Yet veterans groups and former senior military officers argue that removing him from the Pentagon would leave serious questions unanswered and fall short of the accountability they want Congress to pursue.

Their demand goes further. They want the new Congress to impeach Hegseth, even if he resigns or Trump fires him first, with some officers purged by Hegseth joining the push.

“Impeaching Hegesth is the first step of restoring faith and confidence,” one of the purged military leaders told MS NOW. The former senior military officer spoke anonymously because of concerns about retaliation from the Pentagon.

That officer said many military leaders blame Congress as much as they blame Hegseth. The officer also argued that there is no path back to an effective and respected DoW while Hegseth remains Secretary of War.

Several veterans groups this week pointed to Hegseth’s failure to evacuate families from Bahrain before the Iran war began. Spouses of service members and their children were left in danger as Iran launched retaliatory strikes against the largest U.S. Navy base in the Middle East.

The groups also raised concerns about poor conditions reported by families of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. They cited Hegseth’s firing of numerous senior military officers who are women and people of color as another matter requiring investigation through impeachment.

“The impeachment of Hegseth is not just about the war,” said retired Rear Adm. Michael Smith, founder and president of National Security Leaders for America. “It’s other things too.”

Smith called for scrutiny of military strikes in the Caribbean and questions surrounding the resignation of the Southern Command commander. “We have to investigate the strikes that are going on in the Caribbean — those are war crimes, and Congress needs to pull the people in and find out why did the Southern Command commander resign?”

Hegseth’s executive office at the Pentagon and the White House responded this week with a coordinated social media campaign defending him against the impeachment effort. A video promoted Thursday on Pentagon social media accounts showed Hegseth standing outside the building and dismissing the articles as a “sham.”

“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction, didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that,” Hegseth said.

The Unite for Veterans Coalition, composed of veterans organizations that do not support any political party or elected leader, wants Hegseth impeached even if he first leaves voluntarily or is fired. Its members are seeking removal, conviction and disqualification from holding future office.

Kristofer Goldsmith, an Army veteran and founder of Veterans Fighting Fascism, said the coalition believes Hegseth has demonstrated a willingness to put American lives at risk. “It is not enough simply to remove him from that position. He needs to be held accountable and the constitutional method for holding someone like him accountable is impeachment.”

Veterans groups plan to gather in Washington on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, to reaffirm their demand that the military operate within constitutional limits. They also want the institution to preserve a professional and nonpartisan foundation.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is expected to force a vote on impeaching Hegseth next week. Massie is retiring at the end of this year after losing his 2026 primary.

Earlier this year, Massie introduced articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of waging an unauthorized war against Iran and violating the War Powers Resolution. The articles also addressed the use of lethal military force against suspected drug traffickers instead of maritime law enforcement procedures.

Other articles concerned retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. They also cited Hegseth’s alleged failure to minimize civilian casualties and his military campaign against Iran backed Houthi militants in Yemen without congressional authorization.

Hegseth defended the Caribbean boat strikes as part of a campaign to kill “narco-terrorists” and deter drug smugglers. He also characterized Maduro’s capture to face U.S. drug charges as an effort to address the Maduro government’s role in trafficking and threats to U.S. energy interests in the hemisphere.

Hegseth has further argued that an earlier ceasefire in the Iran war reset the requirement to seek war powers from Congress. Veterans pressing for impeachment, however, maintain that simply showing him the Pentagon door would not provide the congressional investigation or constitutional accountability they are demanding.