The Wall Street Journal wants you to shed a tear for Gen. Chris Donahue. “Storied career cut short,” they wail, as if the man was some untouchable war hero yanked from the battlefield mid-fight instead of a four-star whose time in a European command had run its course.
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Spare me the soap opera. This is what civilian control of the military looks like when it actually works.
Pete Hegseth didn’t wake up one morning and decide to ruin a good officer’s day. He’s executing the president’s mandate to shrink the flag officer ranks — 10% overall, 20% at four stars — and restore a military that fights and wins instead of one that manages diversity quotas and worries about hurt feelings. Donahue’s retirement papers were requested as part of that broader, long-overdue housecleaning. His deputy steps in, the command gets right-sized, and life goes on. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
I wore the uniform for over 32 years. Enlisted EOD, B-1 squadron commander, wing commander, nuclear ops, 9/11 survivor at the Pentagon, leading troops in combat. I know how the system works. For every officer who pins on a star, there are 10 others just as qualified, often more so, who never get the nod because the old boys’ network and the political weather vane protected the insiders. Pretending Donahue is irreplaceable is the kind of nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place.
Yes, the general has a long résumé. West Point, Delta Force time, last American out of Afghanistan in that famous photo. But let’s not pretend that the 2021 withdrawal was some flawless masterpiece of planning. It was a humiliating disaster that left 13 Americans dead, billions in equipment in enemy hands, and our credibility in the dirt. Donahue was the Joint Force Land Component Commander in that operation; it’s his failure. Not to mention Donahue is on the record stating that woke DEI policies weren’t affecting readiness when he knew better, as we now know. Hegseth has been clear from day one that he’s not going to protect officers whose careers were advanced under the previous administration’s failed policies. That’s not “punishing” anyone. That’s accountability.
The real story the Journal doesn’t want to tell is why these cuts are necessary. For years, we watched the Pentagon grow top-heavy while recruitment cratered, readiness suffered, and “diversity, equity and inclusion” became more important than lethality. Senior leaders spent more time worrying about pronouns and climate than about China and Russia. Hegseth is doing exactly what the voters elected this administration to do: drain the swamp in uniform and put warriors back in charge.
Critics like Sen. Jeanne Shaheen call it “unfortunate” and “makes no sense.” Of course, they do — she’s a Democrat who thinks the military exists to advance progressive social policy. Even some Republicans wring their hands about “optics” for junior officers. Here’s the truth those junior officers need to hear: the job isn’t about protecting your career or currying favor with the last administration. It’s about executing the commander-in-chief’s orders and winning America’s wars. If that makes some people uncomfortable, good. Comfortable generals lose wars.
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The same people clutching their pearls over Donahue had no problem when the previous crowd sidelined officers who wouldn’t toe the line on Afghanistan, COVID mandates, or woke training. Civilian control isn’t a one-way street that only applies when Democrats are in charge.
Hegseth isn’t picking “loyalists” over “merit.” He’s picking leaders who understand the mission has changed. We don’t need more four-star bureaucrats managing NATO PowerPoint slides while China builds ships and hypersonics. We need officers focused on deterrence, lethality, and results. There are plenty of colonels and one-stars who have spent their careers in the dirt, not in Brussels or the E-Ring, ready to step up.
The Pentagon has too many generals and admirals for the size of the force we actually need. That bloat costs money, slows decisions, and creates a protected class that answers to itself instead of to the American people. Trimming it isn’t cruelty. It’s common sense.
Gen. Donahue served his country. No one is disputing that. But service doesn’t come with lifetime tenure at four stars, especially when the civilian leadership decides the organization needs fresh direction. That’s not a “purge.” That’s leadership.
The Wall Street Journal can keep writing elegies for the old guard. The rest of us will keep supporting the men and women actually trying to fix what years of failed leadership broke. Hegseth has the president’s back. He has the mission’s back. And he has America’s back.
That’s the only “storied career” that matters right now.
Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, 9/11 Pentagon Survivor, Author of What You Can Do About It: Taking Real Action Against Corruption, Radicalism, and Moral Decay to Save America, and Host of The Rob Maness Show.
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Image: Gage Skidmore