Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top general on Thursday, right as the Army is engaged in war.
Gen. Randy George got the call around 4 p.m. while in a meeting. The call was brief. George was told to retire immediately. No reason was given. His staff found out when the rest of the Pentagon did, when the announcement went public. They were described as “very stoic” when they heard the news.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the departure on X. “General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation.”
STATEMENT:
General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) April 2, 2026
Two other generals went with him. Gen. David Hodne, who led the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains, were both removed the same day.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
George is a West Point graduate who commissioned in 1988 and deployed through Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was nominated by Biden in 2023 for a four-year term that was not supposed to end until 2027. His proximity to Biden-era Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had long been considered a mark against him in Hegseth’s circle.
The real tension, according to the New York Times, ran deeper.
Hegseth had intervened to block promotions for four Army officers from a list of 29. Two of the blocked officers were Black. Two were women. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had refused to remove them. Hegseth went around him. Nine US officials familiar with the matter told NBC News that Hegseth had blocked or delayed promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four military branches.
One official said: “There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth.”
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy weighed in on Friday. “It’s likely that experienced generals are telling Hegseth his Iran war plans are unworkable, disastrous, and deadly,” he posted on X.
It’s likely that experienced generals are telling Hegseth his Iran war plans are unworkable, disastrous, and deadly.
Also, Hegseth is firing a ton of experienced generals right now. https://t.co/I2iKshfjNX
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 3, 2026
George’s likely replacement is Gen. Chris LaNeve, Hegseth’s former military aide. LaNeve first caught Trump’s attention on inauguration night when he called into the Commander in Chief’s Ball from South Korea with his troops.
“Sir, on behalf of the brave men and women who serve under my command and the thousands of dedicated service members that are part of the joint team in Korea, congratulations on your victory as the 47th President of the United States. Welcome back, Mr. President.” Trump jumped in right away. “Is this man central casting or what?”
LaNeve left his command of the 82nd Airborne Division before completing the standard two-year term. He will now likely lead an Army that is actively deploying forces to the Middle East, providing integrated air and missile defense during an ongoing war.
George’s removal makes him the latest in a long line. Hegseth has now fired more than a dozen senior military officers since taking office, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations, the head of the NSA, and the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
