Army Secretary Dan Driscoll shared his support for Gen. Randy George, the ousted Army chief of staff, who was abruptly forced to retire by War Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month.
Driscoll told lawmakers during a Defense Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Thursday that he was with his children in North Carolina during their spring break when George was told to put in his resignation paperwork.
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“When we drove back from North Carolina, I drove straight to General George’s house,” he said. “We walked right in, and we all gave him a hug. There is no person that has more respect for General George and his 42 years of service, his Purple Heart, his wife Patty, their grandkids, their kids. I adore them, and he was an amazing, transformational leader. I, too, loved General George.”
In addition to removing George, Hegseth also fired Gen. David M. Hodne, the head of the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s top chaplain. The personnel decisions came as a surprise to Driscoll’s office, a U.S. official told the Washington Examiner.
Driscoll and Hegseth’s relationship has been the source of intrigue, especially in the aftermath of George’s forced retirement, but the Army secretary has affirmed he intends to stay in the role.
“Serving under President Trump has been the honor of a lifetime and I remain laser focused on providing America with the strongest land fighting force the world has ever seen,” Driscoll said in his statement to the Washington Examiner last week. “I have no plans to depart or resign as the Secretary of the Army.”
Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle praised George in budget and readiness hearings with Driscoll and Vice Chief of the Army and acting Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve. LaNeve began his tenure as vice chief of staff of the Army in February, demonstrating a rapid rise within senior leadership, given he is now learning the ropes of the chief of staff position.
“The civilian leadership, the design of our system is that they get to pick the leaders that they want, and we execute on those orders,” he said. “And what I can say about General LaNeve, sitting beside me, is his family is — his kids are in serving now. He served 35 years. And my commitment to you, I think is, as you get to know General LaNeve, you will find him to be a patriotic American too, whose family is multi-generational service.”
Both the chairman of the whole committee and the chair of the subcommittee, both Republicans, shared positive sentiments about George.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said, calling George “an outstanding general officer, outstanding Chief of Staff, and I just want the record to reflect how much we regret, I personally regret at least, he’s no longer in active service. He’s a real loss to us, in my opinion.”
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), responded to Cole’s comments, saying, “I think most of us here agree with your comments. General George should be congratulated on the work he did for this country and the service he provided, and we hold him in high esteem.”
