Post by Ryan Sweazey

You may not be familiar with the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair of 1938, and yet you are now, because you’re watching it play out again. The events that unfolded nearly 90 years ago center around Germany's two most senior military commanders being removed — not for failure, not for misconduct, but because they had expressed professional reservations about the pace of war preparations. Within a single afternoon, sixteen generals were retired, forty-four others transferred, and civilian leadership assumed direct personal command of the armed forces. The #Wehrmacht officers who remained understood what the day meant. This week, Gen. Chris Donahue — the last American service member to leave Afghanistan, and widely regarded as the US Army's next chief of staff — submitted his retirement papers. He joins Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, fired mid-tour while U.S. forces are actively engaged against Iran, and more than twenty other generals and admirals removed since January 2025. Most without substantive explanation. The comparison isn't about ideology or outcome. It's about mechanisms, then and now. —————————————————————————————————- Ryan Sweazey - Absolvent des Lehrgangs Generalstabs/Admiralstabsdienst National (LGAN) 2013 Military Academy of the German Armed Forces | Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr Walk the Talk Foundation Francesca Graham Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) United States Department of War #NationalSecurity #CivilMilitaryRelations #Leadership #History #Military