REPORT: Army colonel, former Milley advisor, pushed out after refusing promotion as military brass exodus grows

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From Fox News: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current job serving as chief of Army public affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll, who currently is in Geneva serving on the negotiating team to end the Ukraine war, Fox News has learned.

Butler served as the head of public affairs for the Joint Chiefs when Gen. Mark Milley was chairman, and was slated to receive his first star. His name appeared for two years in a row on an Army list of 34 officers selected for promotion.

That list has been held up by Hegseth for nearly four months because he reportedly has concerns about four to five officers selected by the Army board, but by law he cannot remove them from the list. Butler volunteered to take his name off the promotion list if it would help unlock the other promotions, according to an Army official.

Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President JD Vance – he attended Yale Law School with the vice president – had resisted Hegseth’s pressure to fire Butler for months because of his ongoing contributions to the transformation of the Army.

“We greatly appreciate COL Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation. Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts. He will be missed and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service,” Driscoll said in a statement. Col. Butler had reportedly travelled with Driscoll to Ukraine last November to help jumpstart negotiations.

“Hegseth entered the Pentagon in 2025 and immediately began firing top officers or forcing them into early retirement without giving a reason or for cause,” wrote Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin – a former colleague of Hegseth from his time spent working at Fox.

Now Griffin, the main Fox News correspondent at the Pentagon, is appearing to be critical of Hegseth’s decisions.

Journalist Laura Loom shed more light on the situation. She wrote:

Just a reminder that Dave Butler worked for General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who President Trump accused of “TREASON” when he went behind President Trump’s back to have secret calls with China regarding his concerns over President Trump’s behavior.

Butler, who is a senior military adviser to @SecArmy Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and is the Chief of Army Public Affairs, defended Milley’s actions when he worked for him.

In January of 2025, the Pentagon stripped Milley of his US Security detail and his top secret security clearance over his secret talks with China. Secretary of War @PeteHegseth even ordered an investigation into Mark Milley.

Sounds like Dave Butler NEVER should have been hired to work under Dan Driscoll begin with! @PeteHegseth was right to order his firing.

Again. What the hell is going on with the vetting crisis at @DeptofWar? It always traces back to the Army… doesn’t it? 🤨 RECEIPTS 👇🏻

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