Army Gen. Randy George speaks at the closing ceremony of the Defense Department Warrior Games in Orlando, Fla., in August 2022. George has been nominated to be the Army’s next top officer. If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Gen. James McConville, who is retiring. (Eric Alabiso II/U.S. Marine Corps)
Gen. Randy George, who commanded troops in Afghanistan and played a key role in reconstituting the Army’s mission in Europe after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, is in line to become the service’s next top officer.
President Joe Biden nominated the four-star general Thursday to replace Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, who is retiring after four years in the position.
George, the current Army vice chief of staff, previously was the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
George would assume leadership as the Army is focused on an array of modernization programs designed around better positioning the military to counter threats posed by China and Russia.
Gen. Randy George, left, vice chief of staff of the Army, and Lt. Gen. Sean Bernabe greet each other Nov. 3, 2022, at Fort Irwin, Calif. George was nominated last week by President Joe Biden to take the Army’s top officer post. If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Gen. James McConville. (Matthew Lumagui/U.S. Army)
He also would have to grapple with a recruiting crisis that has challenged the Army’s ability to fill its ranks.
As a battlefield commander, George led a brigade of 4th Infantry Division soldiers in 2009 in Afghanistan. He also deployed to Iraq multiple times.
Besides a heavy focus on the wars that dominated the military’s attention for two decades, George also got an early look at how the Army was adapting in Europe to a resurgent Russia.
As a brigadier general in 2015, he headed up a new mission command element, which at the time was set up in Grafenwoehr, Germany, in the aftermath of Russia’s armed seizure and illegal annexation of Crimea the year before.
Soldiers assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division meet Gen. Randy George, vice chief of staff of the Army, on Nov. 4, 2022, at Fort Irwin, Calif. George has been nominated to replace Gen. James McConville as the Army's top officer. (Matthew Lumagui/U.S. Army)
The headquarters, which was tasked with overseeing maneuvers of soldiers sent to NATO’s eastern flank, was part of the Army’s gradual rebuilding of its mission in Europe. The command element later was shifted to Poland.
During testimony Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee, George said the Army is now focused on “the pacing challenge” of China while “holding the line in the European theater.”
“All the while, (we are) adapting in real time to lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and rapidly incorporating new tactics into our doctrine and our training,” George said.
He added that the Army “must be ready to deter war, and if deterrence fails, to take the fight to the enemy anywhere around the globe.”
