Defense

Hegseth shares air rescue group’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ prayer at Pentagon service

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by Ashleigh Fields - 04/16/26 2:50 PM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 04/16/26 2:50 PM ET

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday repeated an air rescue group’s prayer that borrows from a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Pulp Fiction.”

During a Pentagon service, Hegseth said the prayer — called CSAR 25:17, an apparent reference to Ezekiel 25:17 in the Bible — was recited during a mission to recover the pilot of a U.S. F-15E fighter jet shot down in Iran earlier this month.

“So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and it reads, and pray with me please, ‘The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children,” he told those gathered at the Department of Defense.

“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee,” he added. “Amen.”

Samuel L. Jackson’s character recites his own modified version of Ezekiel 25:17 in “Pulp Fiction” before shooting another man.

The actual biblical passage reads, “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.”

On Thursday, videos of Hegseth reading the prayer circulated online, with some users and media outlets assuming Hegseth believed he was reading actual scripture.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell responded to the ridicule in a statement on X.

“Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday shared a custom prayer, referenced as the CSAR prayer, used by the brave warfighters of Sandy-1 who led the daylight rescue mission of Dude 44 Alpha out of Iran, which was obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction,” Parnell wrote.

“However, both the CSAR prayer and the dialogue in Pulp Fiction were reflections of the verse Ezekiel 25:17, as Secretary Hegseth clearly said in his remarks at the prayer service. Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality,” he added.

Hegseth has faced criticism for regularly invoking Christianity during his media briefings and hosting monthly prayer services at the Pentagon.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon on Thursday advised Hegseth to tone down religious references in briefings on the conflict with Iran, arguing they distract from the operational details outlined by military leaders.

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