Black Woman General In Charge Of Military Healthcare, Telita Crosland, Abruptly Retires

Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland resigned after 32 years of service.

Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, the Black woman in charge of the Pentagon’s healthcare branch, has resigned. Following President Donald Trump’s administration firing a slew of top military officers last week, Crosland resigned from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) on Feb. 28.

Crosland oversaw the DHA, which provides accessible healthcare to nearly 10 million U.S. troops, retirees, and their families.

According to the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Stephen Ferrara, she has already been replaced.

Ferrara said that Crosland started her retirement of her own volition.

“I want to thank Crosland for her dedication to the nation, to the military health system, and to Army medicine for the past 32 years,” Ferrara said in a public statement.

“I am confident the DHA will continue to improve healthcare in support of our beneficiaries and rise to meet complex security challenges worldwide,” Ferrara concluded.

Crosland previously made history as the first Black woman to lead the Defense Health Agency, after a lifetime of military accreditation.

Crosland’s resignation comes at a tumultuous time in the Pentagon. Just last week, President Trump’s Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, fired several high-ranking military officials without reason, including the United State’s most senior military officer, Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown.

Brown is a Black officer who Hegseth previously discussed and criticized for his support of rapidly evolving diversity initiatives.

In addition to firing Gen. Brown, Jr. as Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hegseth fired Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, and Air Force Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force. Before Crosland resigned, Hegseth said he was reportedly “requesting nominations” for the jobs of judge advocate general, or JAG, for the Army, Navy, and Air Force in the Pentagon but gave no explicit conduct citations as to why the firings took place.