Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed Major General William Green Jr., the U.S. Army chief of chaplains, along with two other top generals during Holy Week. The move marks the first firing of an Army chief of chaplains since the position's creation in 1920. No official reason was provided for Green's removal.
Pete Hegseth, the War Secretary, removed Major General William Green Jr. from his role as U.S. Army chief of chaplains on Thursday during Holy Week. Green, who advises the Army Chief of Staff on religion and morality and oversees the Army Chaplain Corps, was three years into a typical four-year term. He had served as a chaplain since the 1990s after enlisting as a soldier and becoming an ordained minister, with his promotion to major general occurring recently and his appointment to chief in 2023, according to Military.com. This is the first such dismissal since the National Defense Act of 1920 established the position. Hegseth had previously criticized Green's 112-page Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, published in August 2025 as part of the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness program, which began development in 2024 under former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Hegseth ordered the guide and its accompanying Battle Book scrapped by December 2025, calling it overly secular. “It mentions God one time. That’s it. It mentions feelings 11 times. It even mentions playfulness, whatever that is, nine times,” Hegseth said. He added that chaplains in the military have been minimized and viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers. The guide was removed from the Army’s website. The same week, Hegseth also dismissed Gen. David Hodne, head of the Army’s Transformation and Training Command and a former Army Ranger, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy A. George.
