Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said after a Dover dignified transfer that families told him to “finish this” and to not stop until the job was done.
- Charles Simmons, whose son Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons died in a refueling-plane crash in Iraq last week, told NBC News he did not urge Hegseth or President Trump to continue the war.
- Simmons said his conversations focused on his son's service and that he has questions about the conflict, which reports say has caused at least 13 U.S. military deaths in recent weeks.
- Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth spoke with each family at Dover and that details of those private conversations would not be disclosed.
- An official who overheard exchanges with families during the March 7 visit said they did not hear anyone tell the president to “finish the job.”