U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an appearance in Aggieland on Saturday, and he received a much warmer welcome than Sen. Ted Cruz got in Austin last weekend.<\/p>\n
Hegseth traveled to College Station for No. 9 Texas A&M’s home football game against Kentucky<\/a>. During an appearance before kickoff, the crowd at Kyle Field cheered Hegseth, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Gov. Greg Abbott, who accompanied him. Rollins is a 1994 Texas A&M alumna.<\/p>\n Hegseth was seen on the sidelines saluting the American flag during the national anthem. Clad in a maroon polo, he also shook hands and took selfies with a raucous Texas A&M Corps of Cadets before the game.<\/p>\n Earlier Saturday, Hegseth, who calls himself Secretary of War, trained with the Corps by running up and down the stadium steps. He later addressed cadets on what he said was the first stop of his “Send Me Tour,” an effort to connect with military members, university ROTC cadets and veterans across the nation.<\/p>\n “Send Me” references the biblical prophet Isaiah<\/a>, who when the Lord asked “Whom shall I send?” responded “Here am I. Send me!”<\/p>\n “Over 250 years of this country, there have been men and women who raised their right hand and said, ‘send me,'” Hegseth said. “If we don’t have Texans like these out there on the front lines, we don’t have a republic, so we need the nation to raise their right hand and say ‘send me.'”<\/p>\n The secretary traveled to College Station on Friday to tour the Veterans Resource Center. He was in Austin earlier Friday<\/a> to speak at Saronic Technologies Inc., a critical commercial partner for the U.S. military that builds autonomous warships.<\/p>\n Hegseth’s Texas trip comes days after the U.S. House of Representatives postponed a vote on articles of impeachment over his handling of the war with Iran until after the November elections.<\/p>\n Before the Texas Longhorns game against Ohio State on Sept. 12, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz appeared on ESPN’s “College GameDay” near the stadium and was met with chants of “Ted, you suck. Ted, you suck.”<\/p>\n