U.S. Secretary of Defense Peter Heggs Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George has been asked to step down and retire immediately, CBS News reported.Hegseth reportedly wants someone to fully realize his and President Trump’s vision for the military. A senior Defense Department official told CBS News, “We are grateful for his service, but it is time for a change in Army leadership.“George is a West Point graduate and career infantry officer who has served in the Army for decades. He enlisted in the Army in 1988 and participated in Operations Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. Prior to being appointed Army chief of staff, George served as deputy chief of staff from 2022 to 2023 and served as the senior military assistant to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration from 2021 to 2022.George was nominated by the then President of the United States to serve as Chief of Staff of the Army Joe Biden and be confirmed by the Senate in 2023. He would stay in office until 2027 under a typical four-year term.Gen. Christopher Raneff, the current deputy chief of staff, will serve as acting Army chief of staff. He previously served as a military aide to Hegseth and served as commander of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division from 2022 to 2023. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said Ranev is “a proven leader with decades of warfighting experience, and Secretary Heggs has full confidence in him to carry out the administration’s vision without fault.”Hegseth has previously fired more than a dozen senior officers. The decision to fire George was unrelated to a recent incident in which Hegseth overruled the Army’s decision to suspend a flight crew that flew over the Nashville home of American artist Kid Rock. After the suspension and administrative review, Hegseth wrote on his personal
