Maybe it is conflicting big egos, and the president always wins that one. MacArthur found that out.

It just happened. Nobody has talked. Until it blows over and there are no longer threats to the current situation in doing so, probably nobody is going to talk about why. It will come out as a matter of history, and everyone right now is operating under almost pure poorly informed circumstantial conjecture.

Teslag said:

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ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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Well ya that's the ****ing point. You either implement the vision of your civilian boss or get the **** out of the way.

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What if the orders are clearly war crimes ?

Maybe this conflict needs to shed the constraints of what is permissible in war. ( of course we aren't technically at War but that's a different topic )

Targeting civilian infrastructure is war crime
Trump and Hegseth repeatedly have said that power and desalination facilities could be the next targets which would be a War Crime

Separating the morality out of the discussion from a practical point of view I would prefer to not cross that line given how many soft targets exist in the US

I do not personally believe that their is vast network of Terror Sleeper Cells in the US but If we start targeting civilian infrastructure The Obvious counter move is for the Ayatollahs to activate any resources they have to target our infrastructure.

Quote:

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Wait...

The Commander in Chief wants his vision implemented?

He must be trying to be a KING!!!!!

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Unpossible. We just had a weekend of protests that will totally prevent this from happening

ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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Tell me you know nothing of the military without telling me you know nothing of the military. Jeeez.

He was a biden appointee? Should've been gone a long time ago.

Targeting infrastructure is not and never has been a "war crime".

Guess what? Military bases use the same power, get fuel refined at the same refineries, and drink the same water as everyone else.

Quote:

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Hell even Patron was sidelined for a long while. It happens.

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Had a better deal on good Kentucky sipping whiskey.

Ulysses90 said:

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MemphisAg1 said:

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Hogties said:

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How many generals did Lincoln fire until he found Grant? McArthur in Korea was summarily fired and retired. Hell even Patron was sidelined for a long while. It happens.

Civilians command the military. For better or worse.

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Yeah, I don't buy the notion that you can't sack a military leader during periods of conflict. Sometimes that is exactly what's needed. I don't have an informed opinion on this case, but it's beyond silly to think someone has to stay in the seat simply because it's hot in the kitchen.

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You are correct. The JCS are force providers to the regional COCOMS. Firing one of the JCS can have a negative impact on the morale of that service component but that's nothing compared to the damage to morale that results from not firing one soon enough.

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Slim is probably my favorite modern era general. Everyone should read about this dude.

22 year veteran here, still serving. I like General George just fine, but let's not pretend he's maneuvering troops in combat.

The chief of staff does long term budget and force structure planning, combat systems acquisition, manpower , administrative policy, and designs the future Army he thinks we'll need. The combatant commanders are the Combatant Commands. Wake me up when Admiral Cooper, who is actually calling the shots for all service forces in the Middle East/CENTCOM, gets fired.

It's really just noise on both sides. This is a mild disruption for the Army as an institution, and has negligible effect on combat ops. We serve at the pleasure of the President and the SECDEF/SECWAR and we follow all legal, ethical, and moral orders.

I just heard that Gen Hodne at T2COM was also fired as well as the Army Chief of Chaplains. It appears to be a General general house cleaning.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/pete-hegseth-forces-army-chief-staff-randy-george-rcna266491

Al Jazeera states that this was over the Brigadier General selection list submitted by the Army to the SecWar.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/3/hegseth-fires-us-army-chief-of-staff-in-reported-string-of-dismissals

Quote:

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In a report, The New York Times said the removal was related to clashes between George and Hegseth over the latter's decision to single out and block the promotion of four army officers on a list of 29 personnel.
Most of the officers on the list are white men, while two blocked by Hegseth are Black, and the other two are women, the Times reported, citing unnamed military officials.

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If that statement concerning selection for promotion to General officer is accurate then it is definitely worth considering the excerpt from Steven Baker's interview with the former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Personnel, Casey Wardynski.



At the 46:21 mark, he speaks directly to the chokehold that the Army Chief of Staff has on General Officer promotions and the refusal of Gen Milley to even let him review the personnel record of a two star that was being nominated for a three star billet as the Deputy G-4. The LTG that worked for Wardynski could not get the record and the Army Vice Chief told Wardynski that it was none of his business. This is what Hegseth is trying to fix. Every three and four star in the Army today is essentially someone that was hand picked to rise to that level by Mark Milley. There are other important insight to the nepotism of the Army Generals' bubba network and the consequences that the Army is dealing with as a result of Milley's corrupt behavior at the 31:28 mark.

This social media post is clearly wrong to attribute the case of Karoline Stancik as a primary reason for George's firing but it does provide a troubling example of Army senior leadership's handling of vaccine injuries to soldiers that they want to disavow and ignore.

Quote:

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Forces Army Chief of Staff to Step Down Over Ignored COVID Vaccine Injury

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has demanded that Army Chief of Staff General Randy George step down and retire immediately.

A young soldier wounded by the Biden-era mRNA COVID vaccine says General George ignored her desperate case until investigative reporting forced military records into the light.

Specialist Karoline Stancik was just 24 when the shot hit her hard. She suffered three heart attacks, a mini-stroke, and severe POTS that left doctors no choice but to implant a pacemaker in her chest.

During the Biden administration, the Army wrongly kicked Stancik off orders and stripped her of military medical insurance, leaving her to pay more than $90,000 out of pocket while fighting for her life.

An October 2023 Army memo later declared her condition "Line of Duty" and pointed straight to research linking her cardiac damage to the mRNA vaccine.

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If handling of COVID vaccine administration is really part of the grounds for his firing, he might not be the last service

GMaster0 said:

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The problem is that this administration has fired four service chiefs

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GO WOKE AND GO HOME.

Sq 17 said:

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Targeting civilian infrastructure is war crime
Trump and Hegseth repeatedly have said that power and desalination facilities could be the next targets which would be a War Crime

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We are not members of the International Criminal Court. Good luck.

ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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It's heartening that this is the BEST script that the NPC programmers can manage. Pretending that the appointees they selected to drive insane policy changes are now magically neutral stewards who will super totally not sabotage their reversal.

It takes time to find out what is clogging your gutters and even more time to clean them out. Too many gutters to clean. Good Trump.

I worked with the military to the O7 level and worked with business critical corporate leaders and there's nobody that was irreplaceable. Some thought they were, but that was because of their inflated ego.

Sq 17 said:

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Teslag said:

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ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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Well ya that's the ****ing point. You either implement the vision of your civilian boss or get the **** out of the way.

---

What if the orders are clearly war crimes ?

Maybe this conflict needs to shed the constraints of what is permissible in war. ( of course we aren't technically at War but that's a different topic )

Targeting civilian infrastructure is war crime
Trump and Hegseth repeatedly have said that power and desalination facilities could be the next targets which would be a War Crime

Separating the morality out of the discussion from a practical point of view I would prefer to not cross that line given how many soft targets exist in the US

I do not personally believe that their is vast network of Terror Sleeper Cells in the US but If we start targeting civilian infrastructure The Obvious counter move is for the Ayatollahs to activate any resources they have to target our infrastructure.

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Ok Mark Kelly...

ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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That's all the military ever wants.

itsyourboypookie said:

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ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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That's all the military ever wants.

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Nope, they want people who follow lawful orders presented through a chain of command.

This all just looks sus, and a pattern with this admin, thus my comment.

HTH

There obviously are dei woke liberal military leadership that is no good and I don't mind seeing them enter retirement. However there also is a concern some are being forced out because they have indicated push back against some of the attacks Trump has threatened like desalination facilities which seem to be war crimes.

ETFan said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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That's all the military ever wants.

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Nope, they want people who follow lawful orders presented through a chain of command.

This all just looks sus, and a pattern with this admin, thus my comment.

HTH

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Just because you don't like the policy, doesn't make it illegal.

JFC...

This is about the SecWar asserting to prevent the promotion of certain officers selected by the Army's senior officer promotion boards. Th FoxNews article does not give the reasons why Hegseth does not want COL Butler promoted but he has been adamant about it and the publication of the promotion list has been delayed for four months as the SecWar and SecArmy fought over it. The CoS firing seems to be about the refusal to remove Butler and others from the promotion list to Brigadier General.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scoop-hegseth-orders-removal-army-public-affairs-chief-amid-broader-pentagon-purge

If the SecWar has reason to go to the mat to prevent the promotion of someone like for example, an Aleksandr Vindmann, from becoming a General the this makes sense to me. I am guessing that Hegseth's staff has either identified Butler as a leaker (implied by the photo with a CNN reporter) or has be forwarded some correspondence in which implicates Butler in covering up GEN Milley's disloyal behavior as JCS, particularly in the Jan 2021 time frame.

Ulysses, you know how GOs get selected…

So what you're saying is, you're ok with politicians picking and choosing who gets promoted…over that of uniformed military.

Because if you're good with that in Republican Admin…I assume your good with that during President AOCs term.

agent-maroon said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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Ulysses, you know how GOs get selected…

So what you're saying is, you're ok with politicians picking and choosing who gets promoted…over that of uniformed military.

Because if you're good with that in Republican Admin…I assume your good with that during President AOCs term.

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Get out of here with this future libtard administration fear mongering. This has already happened with obama/biden and these removals are an attempt to clean up some of the mess they left in place.

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So, what about the GO selection process is the mess?

Please describe in detail.

I'll wait.

K2-HMFIC said:

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Ulysses, you know how GOs get selected…

So what you're saying is, you're ok with politicians picking and choosing who gets promoted…over that of uniformed military.

Because if you're good with that in Republican Admin…I assume your good with that during President AOCs term.

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President AOC? That made me chuckle. Even libs aren't dumb enough for that.

Wasn't addressing the process, but rather the product. So wait to your heart's content

sanangelo said:

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Gigem314 said:

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Hogties said:

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How many generals did Lincoln fire until he found Grant? McArthur in Korea was summarily fired and retired. Hell even Patron was sidelined for a long while. It happens.

Civilians command the military. For better or worse.

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Lincoln wanted only "yes" men.

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How many generals did Lincoln fire until he found Grant? I think 4. Winfield Scott retired but I count him because he came up with the blockade. Then:

• McClellan: Removed twice for being overly cautious.
• McDowell: Replaced after the first Battle of Bull Run.
• Pope: Removed following the Second Battle of Bull Run.
• Burnside: Removed after the loss at Fredericksburg.
• Hooker: Replaced before the Battle of Gettysburg.

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Based on the biography I just finished, you could probably count Winfield Scott. He was old and he did retire, but he wasn't exactly discouraged from going away.

agent-maroon said:

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Wasn't addressing the process, but rather the product. So wait to your heart's content

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So…you don't want merit based promotion.

Understood.

But let's all be honest…this is the real issue:

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell could replace Army Secretary Dan Driscoll if he's fired next, three admin officials told me

Pete Hegseth's own fear of being fired and replaced by Driscoll is driving tension with Army, current and former officials saidhttps://t.co/b1aNUvLuLi

— Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) April 3, 2026

K2-HMFIC said:

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Ulysses, you know how GOs get selected…

So what you're saying is, you're ok with politicians picking and choosing who gets promoted…over that of uniformed military.

Because if you're good with that in Republican Admin…I assume your good with that during President AOCs term.

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Always hoping for AOC presidency to shoot up in the stars is the life!

samurai_science said:

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ETFan said:

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Only yes men.

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We know you're trolling, but you literally need yes man in the army

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The founding fathers thought this through, there is a reason the President is the Commander in Chief and not a career military person.
Kind of the reason we have elections.

Quote:

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So…you don't want merit based promotion.

Understood.

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You seem to be waiting for the "gotcha" trap to spring before you share your superior knowledge about the promotion process. Why don't you just proceed with the lecture and stop putting words in other's mouths?

BTW - I have a couple of extended family members that have shared their thoughts on the supposed "merit based promotions" process. Anything above the level of colonel is mostly political, but it's military political with some civilian political influence vs strictly civilian political. Neither has had any trouble finding consulting work in their respective areas of expertise.

agent-maroon said:

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Quote:

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So…you don't want merit based promotion.

Understood.

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You seem to be waiting for the "gotcha" trap to spring before you share your superior knowledge about the promotion process. Why don't you just proceed with the lecture and stop putting words in other's mouths?

BTW - I have a couple of extended family members that have shared their thoughts on the supposed "merit based promotions" process. Anything above the level of colonel is mostly political, but it's military political with some civilian political influence vs strictly civilian political. Neither has had any trouble finding consulting work in their respective areas of expertise.

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"Say you don't know anything about the General Officer promotion process without saying you don't know anything about the General Officer promotion process."


Anyone who says promotion to GO is political…is butchering the word beyond all belief. There are absolutely internal politics (ie Combat Arms over support) but in order to be a GO you have basically had to kill it at every single level.

They had to be stratified in the top of their BDE or WG command tour…they have to be in the right jobs…getting GO is a lot of luck and timing but all merit.

The ones who say it's all politics are the ones who got passed over for being mid.

Old Sarge said:

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APHIS AG said:

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Another one bites the dust as Biden appointees continue to be purged.

Quote:

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources familiar with the decision told CBS News.
One of the sources said Hegseth wants someone in the role who will implement President Trump and Hegseth's vision for the Army.

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www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-ousts-army-chief-of-staff-gen-randy-george/

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What is wrong with this? A "Biden" appointee for a Chief of Staff of the Army? First of all, it was not really a Biden appointee. Biden was told to sign for it. And if it was from the same people that told Biden where to sign, it was not the best possible appointee for the assignment when it comes to a position like that. Why do we have any of the Biden appointees assigned anywhere this late in Trumps term? Why would Trump wait this long to flush the Biden toilet from any aspect of ANYTHING "Biden" would have appointed?

Good Trump/Bad Trump

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So you're saying that Marine Commandant Eric Smith '87 should have been canned last year.

K2-HMFIC said:

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agent-maroon said:

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Quote:

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So…you don't want merit based promotion.

Understood.

---

You seem to be waiting for the "gotcha" trap to spring before you share your superior knowledge about the promotion process. Why don't you just proceed with the lecture and stop putting words in other's mouths?

BTW - I have a couple of extended family members that have shared their thoughts on the supposed "merit based promotions" process. Anything above the level of colonel is mostly political, but it's military political with some civilian political influence vs strictly civilian political. Neither has had any trouble finding consulting work in their respective areas of expertise.

---

"Say you don't know anything about the General Officer promotion process without saying you don't know anything about the General Officer promotion process."


Anyone who says promotion to GO is political…is butchering the word beyond all belief. There are absolutely internal politics (ie Combat Arms over support) but in order to be a GO you have basically had to kill it at every single level.

They had to be stratified in the top of their BDE or WG command tour…they have to be in the right jobs…getting GO is a lot of luck and timing but all merit.

The ones who say it's all politics are the ones who got passed over for being mid.

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Now do Mark Milley, and Lloyd Austin. LOL.

Lets not forget biden removed Scotty Miller right before Astan withdrawal debacle.

I am also fine with a few slots opening, especially if they were miley fans, as a friend of mine is on the last list submitted for a star.