Gen. Chris Donahue set to retire, in latest departure by top military official

Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, has submitted his retirement papers, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, marking the latest high-level officer to leave the military during the second Trump administration.

Donahue had clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, multiple sources told CBS News.

Donahue is a West Point graduate, former Delta Force commander and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. He helped lead security for the evacuation of the Afghan capital of Kabul in 2021, and was perhaps best known for being the last American soldier out of Afghanistan when he boarded the final U.S. aircraft departing Kabul.

Donahue is expected to retire in July, sources told CBS News.

It had long been thought that Donahue would eventually be chief of staff of the U.S. Army and would be in the military for a handful of years, sources said. News of his coming departure has hit hard for some members of the military who have long looked up to Donahue.

The Atlantic was first to report Donahue's departure.

CBS News has reached out to the military for comment.

Then-Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 30, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. U.S. Central Command

Several other high-profile military officials have departed the federal government since President Trump's return to office.

Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George — the Army's top uniformed officer — to step down in April, and the Army officers who led the Transportation and Training Command and the Chaplain Corps were removed from their roles. Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield was also removed in April from her position as the U.S. military representative to NATO's military committee.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown — was ousted in February 2025, along with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife. Shortly before that, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan was fired.

The head of the U.S. military's Southern Command, Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, also retired at the end of last year.