To hear those who know Army Gen. Christopher “CD” Donahue tell it, he is one of the military’s superstars, or “water walkers.”
As the commander of Delta Force, the Army’s top Special Operations unit, Donahue was on the front lines of fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. As commander of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, he was the last U.S. service member to leave Afghanistan in 2021. And as commander of the 18th Airborne Corps from 2022 to 2024, he played a key role in supporting Ukraine’s efforts to roll back the Russian invasion.
Retired Army Gen. Tony Thomas, former head of U.S. Special Operations Command, calls Donahue “a generational leader.” Retired Adm. William McRaven, another former Special Operations chief, has written that he is “one of the most brilliant officers I know.” Retired Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, a former supreme allied commander in Europe, describes him as “almost like a comic book action hero” and, “without a doubt, the most experienced war fighter we have in the U.S. Army.”
Not long ago, Donahue was being talked about as a future Army chief of staff or chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is forcing him into early retirement by downgrading his position as commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe and Africa after only 18 months and not offering him an alternative four-star slot. That makes Donahue the latest casualty of the secretary’s insidious purge of the senior ranks of the armed forces.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.