The Army has fired Command Sgt. Maj. Veronica Knapp, the top enlisted leader responsible for overseeing critical operations across Washington, D.C., from her post.
This dismissal, confirmed last Thursday, is officially attributed to a “loss of trust and confidence in her leadership” following an administrative investigation.
Command Sgt. Maj. Knapp, a 24-year veteran of the Army, had only recently assumed her role in Washington, D.C., in June 2023.
Knapp enlisted in the Army in 2000 and made history as the first woman to serve as the senior enlisted adviser for the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Her career included deployments to critical locations such as Bagram, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Despite her extensive and commendable service record, she was abruptly removed following an administrative investigation. However, the specifics of this investigation have been conspicuously withheld from the public.
Task and Purpose reported:
Knapp was relieved on Aug. 8 as result of the Army 15-6 investigation “due to a loss of trust and confidence in her leadership,” said Bernhard “Lash” Lashleyleidner, a JTF-NCR/USAMDW spokesman. No further information about exactly why Knapp was relieved or what the investigation found was immediately available. All military branches nearly always use the phrase “loss of confidence” when leaders are relieved rather that specify wide range of reasons from personal off-duty conduct mistakes.
The JTF-NCR/USAMDW’ is a sprawling military organization established after the 9/11 attacks as a central hub for defense and day-to-day military operations around Washington D.C. Its leaders — who are traditionally an Army two-star general as the overall commander and Navy admiral as their deputy — oversee military units from every branch, several installations and civilian defense agencies whose duties range from ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetary to responding to emergencies with military police and technical rescue teams to establishing mobile command posts for major D.C. events or emergencies.
Knapp was the senior enlisted advisor on the JTF-NCR/USAMDW command staff. Sergeant Major Eberhard G. Nordman, the JTF-NCR/USAMDW’s provost marshal, has been named as her acting replacement.
The firing of Knapp marks the second high-profile dismissal of a command sergeant major within the Army in the span of just one month. On July 16th, Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Carlson of the 173rd Airborne Brigade was similarly removed from his post in Italy, also for the vague reason of “loss of trust and confidence in his leadership,” according to Military.com.
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