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A group of 10 U.S. Olympians serving in the U.S. military were honored at the Pentagon on April 17.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in between leading the effort in the war against Iran, found time to meet with the athletes for a ceremony to honor their achievements in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. All 10 were members of the high-performance US military-sponsored World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).
“It’s not every day you get invited into Sec. War’s office,” American bobsledder Frankie Del Duca told Pakinomist Digital. “We had a good conversation about the army.”
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War Sec. Pete Hegseth addresses the WCAP Olympians at the Pentagon. (Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann)
Del Duca was the Team USA Olympic flag bearer in Cortina back in February. As an American of Italian descent, having the honor in Italy had special cultural significance for him and his family.
Del Duca is also a US Army infantryman.
“I’m infantry,” he said. “There are different assignments I can take as I gain experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am very proud to serve our country and I love our country and America.”
Hegseth himself was an Army infantry officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
But so far, Del Duca has only done athletic work for the military, enlisting in 2019 and training as a bobsledder at Lake Placid, New York. But as a WCAP athlete, he will also serve in a military-related role.
“We’ve had members of WCAP who have been in the Army first… and then we have some who might do it after,” Del Duca said, adding that he falls into the “after” group.
“Where I might be deployed next and where I can, different assignments, where I might end up, I’ll take the same lessons that I’ve learned and apply them to the next unit. So that’s something that I’m very grateful for and proud of. And I hope that it spreads across our country. I hope it shows that we’re together and that we’re ready and that we’re resilient.”
Del Duca is a young father of two sons, each under the age of four.
“It’s made me a better father,” Del Duca said of his experience in the Army. “I have two sons, [ages] one and three, they keep me on my toes.”
Other branches of the military are well represented in WCAP, particularly the Air Force.
Team USA skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis, who was also honored at the ceremony, is preparing to deploy straight back to Italy after competing at the Milan Cortina Games.
War Sec. Pete Hegseth takes a photo with 10 WCAP Olympians at the Pentagon (Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann)
“I go back to the 31st Communications Squadron at Aviano Air Base,” Curtis told Pakinomist Digital. “I’m a knowledge operations technician… it’s basically like an information traffic officer.”
Curtis says she has a lineage in her family, on her mother’s side, that includes service members in every American war dating back to the Revolutionary War.
She believed that her brother would take up the duty for his generation. And he did, but she soon found herself joining him.
“I didn’t think I would be able to serve in the military,” Curtis said. “When this opportunity came up when I got good enough at my sport. I looked at the Army program, but after talking to my brother, who had also served in the Air Force, I decided to give the Air Force a shot.”
Now, as she continues her family tradition of serving in the U.S. military in a time of war, she feels great honor in the importance.
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“I don’t think any particular time is more honorable than another,” she said. “When I took the Oath of Enlistment, you sign up to defend your country, and that’s something I take seriously. The work that I do with the World Class Athlete Program is different, it’s a softer diplomacy, so I don’t see a lot of what my colleagues see…
“There is honor everywhere when you sign up to defend your country.”
The WCAP program delivered a medalist for Team USA in 2026, including Air Force women’s bobsledder Jasmine Jones.
Jones became a viral social media sensation for an interview with Pakinomist Digital when she expressed great pride in representing the United States on the world stage, at a time when many Americans were demanding patriotism among their Olympians.
And then Jones won bronze in the women’s bobsled with teammate, Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries, helping Humphries become the most decorated bobsled athlete in history.
Jones was honored for his medal during the Pentagon ceremony.
“I was honored to be recognized by Secretary Hegseth after medaling in Cortina and to share that moment representing my country,” Jones told Pakinomist Digital.
“Being an Airman allows me to serve in more ways than one, and I am grateful for that opportunity. The unity of our WCAP team is strong. We lead by example, support each other, and continue to push each other to reach our full potential.”
Meanwhile, the military as a whole continues historic operations in the Middle East behind the leadership of Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
Hegseth warned on Friday that the US military “will shoot to destroy” any Iranian ships laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
“President Trump has authorized the US Navy to destroy, to shoot and kill, any Iranian speedboat that attempts to mine the waters or disrupt passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Hegseth said. “Our commanders have clear rules of engagement. If Iran plants mines in the water or otherwise threatens American commercial shipping or American forces, we will shoot to destroy. No hesitation. Just like the drug boats in the Caribbean.”
Hegseth also said that Iran’s “battered” military, specifically the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been “reduced to a gang of pirates with a flag.”
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“They hide their aggression in slogans, but the world now sees them as what they are – criminals on the high seas. They control nothing. They behave like pirates, behave like terrorists. They are the ones who lay indiscriminate mines, who shoot at random ships, who killed 45,000 of their own people, in the malicious course of their own people, in their own malicious course. Actors,” Hegseth said.
“The ships that the Iranians have seized in the last few days, a couple of them, they’re not American ships, they’re not Israeli ships. They’re just random ships that they drove their little speedboats up to and shot at those ships with AK-47s. Anyone with a speedboat, a gun and the wrong intentions, can do it, we can do the US, the current, and they know we can do the US, the current. they know their real fleet is in bottom of the Arabian Gulf,” Hegseth added.
Trump and his administration have repeatedly made clear that they are looking for a peace deal with Iran and have expressed optimism about reaching one soon.
Hegseth also said Friday that “Iran has a historic chance to make a serious deal, and the ball is in their court.”
“No matter what, the War Department is ready for what’s next. Locked and loaded,” Hegseth added.
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The remarks come after a planned second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed this week. Vice President JD Vance and the rest of the American delegation never left. Reports indicated that the Iranians said they would not negotiate again in person until the United States ended its blockade.
Vance, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, traveled to Pakistan for the first round of talks with the Iranians earlier this month, but no deal was reached.
