His first assignment was rifle platoon leader with 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth Army in South Korea, followed by service at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment as company executive officer. Donahue then received assignment as rifle company commander in the 5th Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 193rd Infantry Brigade in Fort Kobbe, Panama. In 1998 Donahue transferred to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment as assistant operations officer, rifle company commander, and headquarters company commander.[6] He was then assigned to Washington, DC as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2002 Donahue volunteered for and completed a specialized selection and operator training course for assignment to the army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, publicly known as Delta Force, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He would serve numerous leadership positions as assistant operations officer, squadron operations officer, squadron executive officer, troop commander, selection and training detachment commander, operations officer, squadron commander, deputy commander and unit commander.[7]
After attending Harvard, Donahue served as a brigade commander in USASOC, before becoming the Director of Operations at Joint Special Operations Command.[5] He was later the Commandant of the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, August to October 2017; and Deputy Commanding General (maneuver) of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, October 2017 to May 2018.[16] He deployed to Europe with the 4th Infantry Division as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.[5] Donahue was then deputy director for Special Operations and Counterterrorism, J-37 Joint Staff, May 2018 to May 2019; and Commanding General, NATO Special Operations Component Command/Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, Resolute Support Mission, May 2019 to May 2020.[16] In the latter role, he was deployed to Afghanistan again in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.[5]
82nd Airborne Division
Donahue boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Kabul airport as the final international soldier to depart Afghanistan.
Major General Donahue was the Commanding General, 82nd Airborne Division, from July 2020 to March 2022.[17][16] Donahue was on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan since 2002,[14] and his 18th deployment overall,[12] during the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.[11] He directed security at Hamid Karzai International Airport from 17 August 2021 while Rear Admiral Peter Vasely was in overall command of U.S. forces in the country.[12] Troops of the 82nd Airborne held the airport for the final 48 hours of the war in Afghanistan.[18] On 30 August 2021, Donahue became the last foreign soldier to depart, boarding a C-17 transport aircraft that was part of a group of the last five American planes that left the country.[11] Donahue and Vasely had overseen the international evacuation from Kabul of over 122,000 people.[14]
XVIII Airborne Corps
In February 2022, he was nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and assignment as commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps, succeeding Michael Kurilla.[19][20] About two months later, he met with senior Ukrainian military commanders to begin their partnership with the U.S. during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This included providing Ukraine with intelligence and armaments. The XVIII Airborne Corps under Donahue was tasked with delivering the armaments and training the Ukrainians on their use by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. Donahue initially worked with Ukrainian Ground Forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi before working with another Ukrainian general, Mykhailo Zabrodskyi. The partnership that developed between Donahue and Zabrodskyi became critical in the military support from the U.S. and other NATO countries to Ukraine. This took place at the U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, where the U.S. and other NATO military and intelligence officers set up facilities for managing the operation in support of Ukraine. Donahue and NATO Supreme Allied Commander EuropeChristopher G. Cavoli advised the Ukrainians during the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive and the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive.[13]
Towards the end of the year, Donahue and the XVIII Airborne Corps were replaced in this role by Antonio Aguto, who became the head of the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine.[13] Donahue helped establish the group in late 2022, which was created for the purpose of continuing the mission that the Corps had done up until then for the long term.[21] In 2023, while back in the United States, Donahue oversaw the renaming of Fort Bragg as Fort Liberty.[11] He deployed the expeditionary headquarters of XVIII Airborne Corps to assist United States Africa Command with evacuating American and other foreign citizens from Sudan during the crisis in that country.[22]
U.S. Army Europe-Africa
Donahue takes command of U.S. Army Europe-Africa from Darryl A. Williams on 2 December 2024.
In November 2024, Donahue was nominated for promotion to general and assignment as the commanding general of United States Army Europe-Africa and Allied Land Command.[23][24] The nomination was placed on hold due to senatorial questions regarding his handling of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021.[25][26] On 2 December 2024, the hold was lifted, and Donahue was promoted to four-star general.[21] Donahue assumed command from Darryl A. Williams on 10 December 2024.[22] In this position, he returned to the role of overseeing the U.S. assistance to Ukraine, and he visited the country with Cavoli in January 2025.[13]
At the LANDEURO Security Conference in July 2025, Donahue announced NATO's establishment of the "Eastern Flank Deterrence Line." He also asserted that the alliance is capable of neutralizing Russia's A2/AD in Kaliningrad Oblast.[27] In November 2025 he was part of a delegation led by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll to Ukraine for peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war.[28]
123456Myers, Richard B. (2009). Eyes on the horizon: serving on the front lines of national security. Malcolm McConnell (1sted.). New York: Threshold. ISBN978-1-4165-6012-8. OCLC209700194.
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