Driscoll praises Hegseth in farewell message despite friction: ‘Honor of a lifetime’

Outgoing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Tuesday praised War Secretary Pete Hegseth in a farewell message after submitting his resignation from the military post despite friction with his boss during his 18-month tenure. Driscoll turned in his resignation this week, announcing Wednesday would be his last day on the job. In a statement posted to X, the outgoing Army chief said, “We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth,” after the two men reportedly shared disagreements about the Pentagon’s strategy, particularly after Hegseth pushed to oust multiple top personnel. “As a third-generation Army veteran, it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as the Secretary of the Army under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth,” Driscoll wrote. “Our Soldiers, Civilians, and their Families are our Nation’s very best, and they have inspired me every day. I am sincerely thankful for their service and sacrifice.” “I had the privilege of working with them to modernize and accelerate how the Army mans, trains, and equips the most lethal fighting force on the face of the earth,” he added. “We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth.” Driscoll’s resignation was “a long time coming,” a Pentagon official previously told the Washington Examiner. His most likely replacement appears to be top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. Driscoll’s message thanking Hegseth comes after he publicly aired a disagreement about Hegseth’s choice to force Gen. Randy George, the ousted Army chief of staff, into retirement in April. “I was in North Carolina when Gen. George was asked to put in his resignation paperwork, with my family for my kids’ spring break,” Driscoll said during a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing. “When we drove back from North Carolina, I drove straight to Gen. George’s house, we walked right in, and we all gave him a hug.”“There is no person that has more respect for Gen. George.… He was an amazing, transformational leader,” he continued. “That being said, the civilian leadership, the design of our system, is that they get to pick the leaders that they want, and we execute on those orders.”Hegseth also reportedly pressed Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his job serving as chief of Army public affairs and chief adviser to the Army secretary in February.Driscoll is a close friend of Vice President JD Vance, whom he met at Yale Law School.SIX-MONTH IRAN WAR PUTS PRESSURE ON THE PENTAGON’S PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION TO MEET THE ‘1939 MOMENT’During his tenure at the Pentagon, Driscoll took on some unlikely roles, including emerging as a top negotiator in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, thanks to Vance’s intervention. It was even Driscoll who presented the United States’s 28-point peace plan to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year. “What a job he’s doing, this guy,” Trump said of Driscoll last September at an Oval Office event. “Look at that nice face, and yet he’s a killer.… Nice, beautiful face, and he’s a total killer. I don’t know how you do it.”