KTKA

Donald Rumsfeld's resignation comes one day after U.S. voters demonstrated dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq. But Kansas Adjutant General Major Tod Bunting says he had expected President Bush and Rumsfeld to "stay the course."

"I don't think anyone anticipated that Secretary Rumsfeld was just going to step down and walk away...He's too intense to normally do something like that," Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting said. "It was not what any of us anticipated."

Bunting said he's proudly served Rumsfeld for six years and said he believes Rumsfeld's job was a tough one, especially in war time.

"It's a different time in the military and I'm sure he's tired, too," he said.

Bunting said this won't affect Kansas troops or their day-to-day operations.

Major General Bunting said he has full faith that a new U.S. Secretary of Defense will continue to serve and protect our troops.

"We don't get involved in politics in anyway. We're airmen and soldiers and whoever is the civilian leadership that takes us forward, we support them and trust in them," he said.

Two U.S. Airmen out of Wichita heard the news while they were dropping off military equipment in Topeka.

"It's quite a shock, he's worked diligently against the war on terror," Kansas Airman Treg White said. "I hope whoever steps in to replace him does just as well or even better."

"We've got plenty of good leaders and management that will push us through the war in Iraq," Staff Sergeant Mat Quinton said.

While military personnel were shocked, one woman says she's tired of politics and thought now that elections were over she would not have to hear anymore about it.

"You know everything switched around democratically and I don't know what to think about it. I'm just done, done thinking about it all," Osage County resident Shanda Lord said.

The man picked to replace Rumsfeld is former CIA Director Robert Gates, from Wichita.