FORT DRUM - With a passing of the colors and booming cannons, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley assumed command Wednesday of the Army's heralded 10th Mountain Division.
The change in leadership - which came during an hourlong ceremony as some 2,500 troops and spectators looked on - comes at a critical time for the fast-growing division that has been the military's most deployed since being reactivated 20 years ago.
Some 3,000 Fort Drum troops from the Division's 1st Brigade left for Iraq earlier this month, and next year, about 8,000 Fort Drum soldiers from the 3rd, 4th and aviation brigades will go to Afghanistan, including Freakley.
"It's a very serious path we have to undertake, but 30 years of Army training should count for something," said Freakley, who previously served as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Infantry Center and commandant of the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Freakley replaces at Fort Drum his 1975 West Point classmate Maj. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III.
During Austin's two-year command, the division nearly doubled in size from 10,000 troops to almost 19,000 with the addition of two brigades - one of which is located at Fort Polk in Louisiana.
Nearly a billion dollars worth of major construction projects are under way at Fort Drum, which is expanding to accommodate about 6,000 of those new troops. Among the ongoing work is a $302 million housing project consisting of 845 new houses on post as well as the renovation of 2,270 existing post homes over the next five years.
Austin will become the chief of staff of the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, which is responsible for all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia.
In his departing remarks, Austin told several hundred troops standing in formation they had "propelled the division into a dimension of greatness that is enduring" while becoming "the enemies' worst nightmare."
Tenth Mountain Division troops have played a pivotal role in the nation's war on terrorism with major deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and spearheading Operation Anaconda, the last major offensive in subduing the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Since the division's reactivation at Fort Drum in 1985, it has served in the Persian Gulf War, in Florida providing relief to victims of Hurricane Andrew, in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo.
The exploits of 10th Mountain Division troops who rescued a group of Army Rangers from an ambush by Somalian warlords also was chronicled in the best-selling book and movie, "Black Hawk Down."
The 10th Mountain Division was first activated in 1943 as a light infantry division trained to fight at high altitudes and on difficult terrain. It first made its mark on American military history during World War II at the battle of Riva Ridge, where its soldiers scaled a 1,500-foot cliff under cover of darkness to rout the Nazis, and go on to liberate northern Italy.
Some 3,000 Fort Drum troops from the Division's 1st Brigade left for Iraq earlier this month, and next year, about 8,000 Fort Drum soldiers from the 3rd, 4th and aviation brigades will go to Afghanistan, including Freakley.
"It's a very serious path we have to undertake, but 30 years of Army training should count for something," said Freakley, who previously served as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Infantry Center and commandant of the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Freakley replaces at Fort Drum his 1975 West Point classmate Maj. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III.
During Austin's two-year command, the division nearly doubled in size from 10,000 troops to almost 19,000 with the addition of two brigades - one of which is located at Fort Polk in Louisiana.
Nearly a billion dollars worth of major construction projects are under way at Fort Drum, which is expanding to accommodate about 6,000 of those new troops. Among the ongoing work is a $302 million housing project consisting of 845 new houses on post as well as the renovation of 2,270 existing post homes over the next five years.
Austin will become the chief of staff of the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, which is responsible for all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia.
In his departing remarks, Austin told several hundred troops standing in formation they had "propelled the division into a dimension of greatness that is enduring" while becoming "the enemies' worst nightmare."
Tenth Mountain Division troops have played a pivotal role in the nation's war on terrorism with major deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and spearheading Operation Anaconda, the last major offensive in subduing the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Since the division's reactivation at Fort Drum in 1985, it has served in the Persian Gulf War, in Florida providing relief to victims of Hurricane Andrew, in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo.
The exploits of 10th Mountain Division troops who rescued a group of Army Rangers from an ambush by Somalian warlords also was chronicled in the best-selling book and movie, "Black Hawk Down."
The 10th Mountain Division was first activated in 1943 as a light infantry division trained to fight at high altitudes and on difficult terrain. It first made its mark on American military history during World War II at the battle of Riva Ridge, where its soldiers scaled a 1,500-foot cliff under cover of darkness to rout the Nazis, and go on to liberate northern Italy.
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