Kid Rock Let's Go For A Ride, Secretary Hegseth ... Debuts New Video With Helicopters at Concert

Kid Rock's using his Department of War connections to get fans hyped for his new Freedom 250 Tour celebrating the USA ... and it's rubbing a ton of people online the wrong way.

Here's the deal ... the singer debuted a new video at his tour kickoff concert in Dallas Friday night -- which shows Kid Rock dapping up Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Hegseth tells Rock he's coming to his show that night and KR offers him a ride to the show ... but Hegseth insists on flying the star instead in a DoW helicopter.

What follows is a rocking tribute to 'Merica ... showing the choppers flying through the air, Kid Rock climbing in and out of the gunner seat and moments that will get conservative music fans feeling real patriotic.

Part of the video came from Rock's flight earlier this week -- which we told you about -- when cameras were rolling as part of a celebration of America's 250th birthday.

As you can imagine, many online are pissed ... calling out the DoW for using taxpayer dollars for this clip. To be fair, the department spends money on advertising all the time ... and the clip really is an ad for the military, which Rock seems to plan on playing for the foreseeable future.

Still, given the department's other expenses in recent months -- we're looking at you, $7 million lobster bill -- it's not a good look for the secretary and his team.

And we can't forget about Rock's recent video showing him bonding with some military members when they flew by his Nashville pad ... a stunt that left several servicemembers suspended temporarily.

Hopefully, Kid Rock's still chartering his own flights though ... and not using a military escort everywhere he goes.

We reached out to Kid Rock's reps ... so far, no word back.