Pete Hegseth tells US Army Chief Randy George to quit during the Iran war.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had asked Army Chief of Staff General Randy George to step down and retire right away. They did not say why he was leaving, but the US is currently at war with Iran.The decision is a big change in leadership because the administration is looking for a commander who "will implement President Donald Trump and Hegseth's vision for the Army."

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's main spokesperson, said in a statement that George "will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army, effective immediately."

Parnell thanked the General for his "decades of service to our nation" and wished him well in the future.

Gen. George has been the Army Chief of Staff since August 2023, when Joe Biden was president. This job usually lasts four years.

CBS News reported earlier that Hegseth had fired more than a dozen top generals and admirals since he took office last year. The ouster is just the latest. Like many of the other firings, the Pentagon isn't saying why George is leaving. This comes almost five weeks into US-Israel attacks on Iran, and President Trump hasn't given a clear timeline for when the war might end.

Gen. George is an infantry officer who graduated from the United States Military Academy. He has fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf War. During the Joe Biden administration, he was also a senior military aide to Lloyd Austin from 2021 to 2022. After that, he took on top leadership roles in the Army.

In February 2025, when Pete Hegseth removed several senior officers, George survived the first round of military leadership changes under the Donald Trump administration. The Navy's top uniformed officer, Lisa Franchetti, and the Air Force's vice chief, Jim Slife, were among those who were let go. Trump also fired Charles Q. Brown Jr. from his job as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Since then, more than a dozen other high-ranking generals and admirals have either left their jobs early or been fired.

One of these departures was George's deputy, Gen. James Mingus. He had been the Army's vice chief of staff for less than two years when Trump suddenly nominated Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve for the job. LaNeve was Hegseth's top military aide at the time, having been chosen for the job after less than a year as commander of the Eighth Army in South Korea.

A Pentagon official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that LaNeve will be taking over as acting Army chief of staff. Two years ago, this officer was only a two-star general. Now, they are a four-star general.

The changes come at the same time that thousands of Marines and other assets are going to the Middle East with Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division. The Trump administration has not answered questions about whether or not the US military will send ground troops to fight Iran.