Public sackings or dismissals of senior military officers are rare in India. Such officers are generally relegated to less important posts or sidelined in other ways.
Politicians and the civil service generally prefer to do this quietly, minus media fanfare.
In sharp contrast, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has publicly sacked his army chief of staff Gen Randy George without any explanation.
It comes in the wake of President Trump claiming in a nationwide address the other day that 'Operation Epic Fury had achieved most of its operational goals and US forces could leave the region in the next two or three weeks.'
A report in the US Sun said 'There had been no public signs of friction between Hegseth and George before the shock decision, adding to the mystery surrounding his abrupt departure. Behind the scenes, George is understood to have clashed with the administration's vision for a stronger, more aggressive military posture.'
The report said George's removal marks the latest in a sweeping clear-out by Hegseth, who has now ousted more than a dozen top brass figures as he reshapes the military for the escalating showdown with Tehran.
These include the firing last year of the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, as well as the chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff.
Brig Arun Sahgal (Retd), a writer and commentator on military-strategic affairs, warned that Gen George's removal in the middle of the Iran war 'is a big blow to the espirit de corps and morale of the army.'
He believes that 'the US Army will continue to operate but there could be loss of faith in their political masters and there are ethical issues with this war. This could affect the army's conduct and performance going forward.'
Not that the army chief in the US system is responsible for military operations, that is the role of the theatre commanders. But the army chief 'is responsible for selecting, training, raising and provide logistics support to the theatre commanders,' Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd), former chief of Western Naval Command told StratNewsGlobal.
It's not clear if Gen George's removal had anything to do with his plans to transform the force into a lean, tech-savvy one more attuned to current warfare where drones and standoff weapons have prevailed.
'If so Gen George was only fulfilling his brief, which is preparation and development of the army to fight modern wars. The better prepared a force is, the higher its morale. This is a big blow on eve of force employment in Iran,' Sahgal said.