Top US general Mark Milley retired on Friday after a four-year tenure, saying in a speech that US troops take an oath to the Constitution and not a “wannabe dictator,” an apparent swipe at former President Donald Trump, APA reports citing Reuters.
Milley was hailed by President Joe Biden as a warrior who served in war zones from Afghanistan and Iraq to Panama and Haiti.
Milley’s tenure included the killing of ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2019 and providing military assistance to Ukraine’s defense against the invasion by Russia in February 2022.
But it also included the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago and a rocky relationship with Trump.
Milley said that troops take an oath to a constitution and not a “wannabe dictator,” in an apparent reference to Trump that drew an audible reaction from some in the audience.
Trump has been criminally charged with trying to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.
“We don’t take an oath a king or queen or a tyrant or dictator. We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution,” Milley during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall near Washington.
Calling Milley “unflinching in the face of danger,” Biden said he “once ran across a bridge booby-trapped with mines to stop two battle tanks evacuating wounded troops from driving across it.”
“Mark, your partnership has been invaluable to me,” Biden said.
Milley handed over command to Air Force chief General Charles Q. Brown in an event featuring marching bands and a red-coated fife-and-drum corps.
Brown is only the second Black officer to become chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after Colin Powell two decades ago.
Biden said Milley served in war zones as part of his long military service and had a “chest full of medals to show for it.”
In his remarks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recalled a time during the Iraq war when he and Milley were serving in Baghdad and their vehicle was damaged when it was hit by an improvised explosive device while en route to a hospital to see a wounded soldier.
“‘Has this happened to you before?’” Austin said he asked Milley. “And he said, oh yeah, I’ve been blown up about five times now.’”
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