Troops deserve ‘courageous leaders of character’

When Gen. Mark Milley retired in 2023 after more than four decades of military service to the United States, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff delivered a retirement speech that included some language that did not go unnoticed.

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“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator — or wannabe dictator,” the retiring general said.

Milley didn’t mention Donald Trump (the president who appointed him) by name, but he didn’t have to. Given the context and the scope of his disagreements with the Republican, there was no great mystery about the general’s unsubtle subtext.

Almost three years later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, presumably with the president’s blessing, fired the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, the highly decorated general and combat veteran who’d served as the Army’s top officer since 2023. It was a jarring and controversial move — removing the head of the Army without cause during a war is ridiculous — though it was also part of an aggressive purge campaign launched by the former Fox News host who currently leads the Pentagon.

For his part, George, at the culmination of a four-decade career in uniform, sent a goodbye email to colleagues, which was obtained by MS NOW. It read in part: