Medal of Honor heroes take sides as Trumps Army secretary decision becomes Pentagon knife fight

WASHINGTON — Some of the nation’s war heroes are taking the unusual step of publicly lobbying President Trump for his next Army secretary nomination — as Pentagon insiders say a three-way race to replace Dan Driscoll has turned into a “knife fight.”Four of the United States’ 65 living Medal of Honor recipients made their case to The Post — with two urging Trump to pick dark horse Marc Andersen, the Army’s comptroller and assistant secretary for financial management, and two others who endorsed Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.Secretary of War Pete Hegseth suggested to Trump last week that he tap Parnell or the department’s legislative affairs chief Dane Hughes to replace Driscoll, who had a bitter power struggle with Hegseth.The fact that Andersen doesn’t seem to be the front-runner prompted two Medal of Honor recipients to make his case.“[Trump] shouldn’t go with the easy button pick.He should pick the person that is going to build him an Army that is capable of dominating on any battlefield,” said Britt Slabinski, who received his medal from Trump in 2018 for leading a daring rescue mission in Afghanistan after his helicopter was shot down.“There’s guys that get in these roles — guys and girls — and they use it for personal gain.

They get in there and they just kind of do this caretaker role,” said Slabinski, president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.“My sense is that Marc’s not an elitist.”Andersen, a former venture capital and consulting executive, has a wide network of support from his work with veteran charities — and has managed the Army’s nearly $200 billion budget since last October with a focus on modernization projects.“Most of the time you get people in these positions who are just consumers.They’re consumers of time, of our resources.

… I think he’s going to be a contributor to the Army and more so to the nation,” Slabinski said.“We have enough people that start things.

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