The generals are playing politics, like always. There is a reason most officers die from gunshot wounds to the back.
It could be that the generals are saying that they have no role in determining election outcomes - which is true in a vacuum of context. IE - "we are not here to make policy, gentlemen. Civilians - elected officials make that policy. We are the instruments of that policy." To put it as "Viper" stated.
However, the oath sworn upon enlistment, 10 usc 502, is to the Constitution of the United States and to defend that Constitution against all threats foreign and domestic. That would, logically, include a candidate who is an agent of or compromised by a foreign adversary.
I would argue that these generals, who should know that the incoming administration is compromised and that many Chinese agents are embedded within our political institutions, are bordering on conspiracy to commit treason. Though their words are… Deliberately selective to leave open the possibility that they will be acting in the interest of defense.
However, it would not surprise me in the least if these are generals who should hang. There are plenty of them out there. Obama saw to that where general nepotism had yet to pervert things.