The Army has fired Command Sgt. Maj. Veronica Knapp is the active-duty top leader responsible for overseeing critical operations in Washington, DC.
The dismissal, confirmed last Thursday, was officially attributed to a “loss of trust and confidence in her leadership” following an administrative investigation.
Command Sgt. Major Knapp is a 24-year Army veteran who most recently assumed duty in Washington, D.C., in June 2023.
Knapp enlisted in the Army in 2000 and made history as the first female senior enlisted advisor to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Her career includes deployments to critical locations such as Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Despite her extensive and commendable service record, she was abruptly terminated following an administrative investigation. However, the specific details of this investigation have been conspicuously withheld from the public.
Reporting tasks and purposes:
JTF-NCR/USAMDW spokesman Bernhard “Lash” Lashleyleidner said the Army’s 15-6 investigation revealed that Knapp breathed a sigh of relief on Aug. 8 “because people had lost trust and confidence in her leadership.” No further information was immediately available on the specific reasons for Knapp’s relief or the findings of the investigation. When leaders breathe a sigh of relief, all military branches almost always use the term “lost confidence” rather than specifying the various reasons why an individual’s off-duty behavior went wrong.
JTF-NCR/USAMDW is a large military organization formed after the 9/11 attacks and serves as the central hub for perimeter defense and day-to-day military operations in Washington, DC. The general serves as deputy – overseeing military units across the services, multiple installations and civil defense agencies, with responsibilities ranging from ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery to responding to emergencies with military police and technical rescue teams to setting up for major special districts Mobile command post incident or emergency.
Knapp is the senior enlisted advisor to the JTF-NCR/USAMDW command. JTF-NCR/USAMDW Master Sergeant Eberhard G. Nordman, Master Sergeant, has been named acting replacement.
Knapp’s firing marks the Army’s second high-profile firing of a command sergeant major in just a month. On July 16, Command Sgt. According to Military.com, Major Matthew Carlson of the 173rd Airborne Brigade was also relieved of his duties in Italy, again due to vague reasons of “loss of trust and confidence in his leadership.”
