US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has asked army chief of staff general Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, reports CBS News.Hegseth reportedly wants someone in the role who will fully implement the vision he and President Trump have for the army. A senior defence department official told CBS News, “We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army.”George is a West Point graduate and career infantry officer who has served in the military for decades. He was commissioned in 1988 and has deployed during Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. Before being appointed army chief of staff, George served as vice chief of staff from 2022 to 2023 and as senior military assistant to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin from 2021 to 2022 during the Biden administration.George was nominated for the position of army chief of staff by then US President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. A typical four-year term would have kept him in the post until 2027.The current vice chief of staff, general Christopher LaNeve, who previously served as Hegseth’s military aide and as commanding general of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division from 2022 to 2023, will serve as acting Army chief of staff. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said LaNeve is “a battle-tested leader with decades of operational experience and is completely trusted by Secretary Hegseth to carry out the vision of this administration without fault.” Hegseth has previously fired over a dozen senior military officers. The decision to remove George was not related to a recent incident in which Hegseth overruled the Army’s suspension of an aircrew that flew by American artist Kid Rock’s house in Nashville. After the suspension and an administrative review, Hegseth wrote on his personal X account, “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.” George’s ouster was independent of this event.
