Three top leaders of the 3rd Infantry Division officially departed Friday in the latest move in the annual summer shuffle of commands and assignments.
Both deputy division commanders as well as the division chief of staff, Col. Mark McKnight, were honored with cannon salutes, awards, ruffles and flourishes and roses for their wives at a retreat ceremony at Marne Garden.
The division commander, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, had high praise for the three officers, each of whom received the Legion of Merit. He was especially complimentary of the three wives and presented each a commander’s community service award.
Brig. Gen. James Huggins is leaving Fort Stewart to become director of operations, readiness and mobilization in the Army Deputy Chief of Staff office.
Huggins told the crowd his service with the Marne Division had “been a great ride.” He said the division staff would be champion Olympic high jumpers, “Because (Lynch) kept raising the bar and you all kept clearing it.”
Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon commanded the Marne Division’s engineer brigade and then its Fourth Brigade before being selected as a deputy division commander.
Noting the recent construction and renovation, he said the 3rd ID had “returned to the best post in the Army.”
Cardon said most of his assignments had been for one or two years, while he and his family had been at Fort Stewart for five years. “What a great place to serve our longest tour.”
Two of Cardon’s children are proud Bradwell Institute graduates.
The Army has not yet announced a new assignment for Cardon.
A colonel already selected for promotion to brigadier general, Patrick J. Donohue, will be taking one of the deputy commander slots.
McKnight is moving to an assignment as commander of the Army Battle Command Training Program. The colonel carefully explained that while his new residence will be a large home overlooking a river and that the BCTP is at Fort Leavenworth, it was misleading to say he had “been sent up the river,” or that he “was in the big house at Leavenworth.”
McKnight said the Army had saying “It’s the faces, it’s not the places,” but that he and his family had found the best of both in Coastal Georgia.
At the end of Friday’s ceremony each officer was presented with a just-fired shell casing from the saluting battery. The souvenir casings are mementos of the last round fired in their honor at Fort Stewart.
Both deputy division commanders as well as the division chief of staff, Col. Mark McKnight, were honored with cannon salutes, awards, ruffles and flourishes and roses for their wives at a retreat ceremony at Marne Garden.
The division commander, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, had high praise for the three officers, each of whom received the Legion of Merit. He was especially complimentary of the three wives and presented each a commander’s community service award.
Brig. Gen. James Huggins is leaving Fort Stewart to become director of operations, readiness and mobilization in the Army Deputy Chief of Staff office.
Huggins told the crowd his service with the Marne Division had “been a great ride.” He said the division staff would be champion Olympic high jumpers, “Because (Lynch) kept raising the bar and you all kept clearing it.”
Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon commanded the Marne Division’s engineer brigade and then its Fourth Brigade before being selected as a deputy division commander.
Noting the recent construction and renovation, he said the 3rd ID had “returned to the best post in the Army.”
Cardon said most of his assignments had been for one or two years, while he and his family had been at Fort Stewart for five years. “What a great place to serve our longest tour.”
Two of Cardon’s children are proud Bradwell Institute graduates.
The Army has not yet announced a new assignment for Cardon.
A colonel already selected for promotion to brigadier general, Patrick J. Donohue, will be taking one of the deputy commander slots.
McKnight is moving to an assignment as commander of the Army Battle Command Training Program. The colonel carefully explained that while his new residence will be a large home overlooking a river and that the BCTP is at Fort Leavenworth, it was misleading to say he had “been sent up the river,” or that he “was in the big house at Leavenworth.”
McKnight said the Army had saying “It’s the faces, it’s not the places,” but that he and his family had found the best of both in Coastal Georgia.
At the end of Friday’s ceremony each officer was presented with a just-fired shell casing from the saluting battery. The souvenir casings are mementos of the last round fired in their honor at Fort Stewart.