Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1974, he held this command until August 1976, when he was named chief of staff of the 6th "Horia, Cloșca and Crișan" Tank Division.

On 25 September 1986, he was promoted to the position of First Deputy Minister of National Defense and Chief of the Romanian General Staff.

[1] In his capacity as Chief of the General Staff, he refused to ask for the help of Soviet troops or other Warsaw Pact countries to assist the Romanian Army restore order.

Film director Sergiu Nicolaescu, an active participant in the Revolution and a member of the FSN, alleged in the media that Gușă tried to organize a coup d'état on 23 December, but he could not muster support from the Army.

In January 1990 he was promoted to lieutenant general, and the next month he became Commanding Officer of the 2nd Army,[4] with headquarters in Buzău.