Americans Deserve Answers

In September 1862, General George B. Mc Clellan, the general in chief of the Union Army, had just repelled the Confederate advance under Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam. But, as Lee’s battered army retreated across the Potomac River, Mc Clellan failed to pursue him—leaving Lee’s army mostly intact. Abraham Lincoln relieved Mc Clellan that November for his failure to be aggressive on the battlefield. The president addressed this firing with members of his Cabinet, and made his rationale known in letters and telegrams to key leaders in Congress.In 1951, after failing to follow direct orders from President Harry Truman and publicly criticizing the administration’s China policy, General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of his command and forced to retire. On April 11, 1951, Truman issued a public statement explaining exactly why he had fired MacArthur.In June 2008, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, with the approval of President George W. Bush, fired both the secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne, and the chief of staff of the Air Force, General Michael Mosely, for their failure to properly oversee the Air Force’s nuclear mission. On June 5, 2008, Gates held a press conference to explain his decision.Every president and secretary of defense has the right and, moreover, the responsibility to remove officers who are failing to meet the high standards expected of senior leaders. But when crucial decisions regarding the professionalism, effectiveness, or morale of the military are made, the people and their duly elected representatives have a right to know why these decisions were made.In recent months, President Trump, upon advice from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, has relieved or forced the retirement of some of the finest officers that have ever served this nation. I have personally worked with most of them in combat. I can tell you from experience that Generals C. Q. Brown, Randy George, Jim Mingus, J. P. McGee, Dave Hodne, Jim Slife, and Joe Berger and Admira