Hegseth Pushed Out a Top Combat General Mid-Tour. He's the Latest of More Than 20.

Gen. Christopher Donahue, one of the Army’s most experienced and decorated officers, will relinquish command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa on July 2, 2026, the service announced. He is leaving halfway through what is normally a three-year assignment, and the Army gave no reason, ABC News reported.

Who Christopher Donahue Is

Donahue spent two decades in combat commands. He led Delta Force, the Army’s top special operations unit, and the 82nd Airborne Division. In August 2021 he was the last U.S. service member to walk off the tarmac in Kabul, the soldier in the night-vision photo that became the image of the end of the Afghanistan war.

In his current post he commanded all U.S. Army forces in Europe and Africa and led NATO’s Allied Land Command. Defense analysts viewed him as a likely future Army Chief of Staff. He is the kind of officer the Army spends 30 years building.

How He Was Pushed Out

Donahue did not choose to leave. CBS News reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth verbally ordered him to retire, shortly after Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George on April 2, 2026.

The mechanics made it cleaner. Donahue’s command is being downgraded from a four-star to a three-star position, which forces a four-star general out. A three-star is expected to be nominated to the smaller role.

The Army’s only public statement thanked Donahue for his leadership. It offered no explanation for the removal.

More Than 20 Officers Removed

Donahue is not an isolated case. Since Hegseth became Defense Secretary, he has fired or pushed aside more than 20 senior generals and admirals.

The names are familiar. Hegseth removed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. C.Q. Brown, and the first woman to lead the Navy, Adm. Lisa Franchetti. He also pushed out the Army chief of staff, the Air Force vice chief, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the chief of chaplains.

20+ senior generals and admirals fired or forced out under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The full reach is larger. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the department has intervened in the careers of “nearly 50 senior officers we know of — firing them or blocking their promotions without explanation,” the majority of the blocked promotions involving women and minority officers.

What Hegseth Brings to the Job

Hegseth came to the Pentagon from a different world than the officers he is removing. He served as a National Guard officer with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and rose to the rank of major. His public career was built as a weekend host on Fox News, not in senior military command.

He was also a contested pick from the start. The Senate confirmed him in January 2025 by the narrowest margin possible, 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote after three Republicans voted no. He is the first Defense Secretary in history confirmed that way.

Lawmakers in Both Parties Are Alarmed

Reed put the principle plainly in a June 17, 2026 floor statement.

“The military’s apolitical mission is not incidental to its strength; it is foundational to it. The Uniform Code of Military Justice restricts their partisan activity precisely because we have always understood that a politicized military is a dangerous military.”

Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member, Senate Armed Services Committee

The concern is not confined to Democrats. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth owes the public an answer.

“The Secretary of Defense has the legal right to fire these flag officers, but it is not morally right nor wise. Further, he owes an explanation to the tax paying citizens.”

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., retired Air Force brigadier general

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, tied Donahue’s removal to the secretary himself, calling it “another example of Hegseth’s paranoia, where having people more capable than him around him is a problem.”

Commanders and Scholars Warn of the Cost

Military scholars say the scale is the problem. Caitlin Talmadge, a political scientist at MIT who studies military operations, told MSNBC the removals break with American practice.

“Firing senior officers for cause is one thing. Firing them repeatedly on this scale and with no explanation is unprecedented in our nation’s history.”

Caitlin Talmadge, political scientist, MIT

Allies feel the loss directly. Donahue led NATO’s land forces during a period of high tension with Russia. Ed Arnold, a European security fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Newsweek that Donahue “had more to give to the Army” and was being “removed early.” A British military official said Donahue is “universally regarded very highly across the British Army.”

Why an Apolitical Military Matters

The American officer corps is built to serve the Constitution, not the person in the White House. Officers rise on merit and keep their posts across administrations. That design is what keeps the military from becoming a political weapon, and it is why Reed warned that a secretary who runs the force through a loyalty test “does not inspire the force. He divides it.”

The cost is practical, not only principled. When decorated commanders are removed mid-tour with no reason, the lesson for everyone still serving is that loyalty outranks judgment. Experience walks out the door, allies lose commanders they trust, and the country grows less prepared at the exact moment it leans on that experience. Choosing commanders for loyalty instead of skill leaves the country with a weaker military.

What You Can Do Now

Use the letter below to ask your senators to demand answers. The Senate Armed Services Committee can hold a public hearing and require Hegseth to explain, on the record, why each of these officers was removed.
Call your senators at (202) 224-3121. Ask them to defend an apolitical, merit-based officer corps and to oppose any nominee who treats military command as a loyalty test.
If your senator sits on the Armed Services Committee, say so when you call. That committee confirms senior officers and oversees the Defense Department.