Europe
GALLERYEickhoff takes helm of 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command
Stars and Stripes
June 12, 2015
U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, rear, and Col. Janell E. Eickhoff, the new commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, salute during a change of command ceremony for the unit Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, rear, and Col. Janell E. Eickhoff, the new commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, salute during a change of command ceremony for the unit Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Janell E. Eickhoff, the new commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, takes the unit's colors from U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges during a change of command ceremony Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges speaks during a change of command ceremony for the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Gregory Brady, outgoing commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, speaks after relinquishing command of the unit in a change of command ceremony Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Janell E. Eickhoff, the new commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, takes the unit's colors from U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodgesduring a change of command ceremony Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Janell E. Eickhoff, right, and Col. Gregory Brady, second from right, talk as troops pass by following Eickhoff's assumption of command of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command during a change of command ceremony for the unit Friday, June 12, 2015, at Daenner Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Eickhoff and Brady served together as lieutenants in their first assignment in the Army in the 10th AAMDC's 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Col. Janell E. Eickhoff took command of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command on Friday, replacing the outgoing Col. Gregory J. Brady.
The unit, based at Rhine Ordnance Barracks near Ramstein Air Base, has deployed numerous times in recent years, both to exercises and in response to the civil war in Syria.
During the morning ceremony at the Army’s Daenner Kaserne, Brady said roughly half of the unit is currently deployed. Some of the unit’s soldiers are in Turkey, where U.S. Patriot missile batteries have defended the city of Gaziantep from possible spillover from Syria for more than two years. Others are in Israel.
“Part of what we’ve got to do is make 30,000 soldiers look and feel like 300,000,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, said at the ceremony. “Back when Col. Eickhoff and Col. Brady were very young lieutenants, that’s about how many soldiers we had in Europe.”
Both Eickhoff and Brady served in the 10th AAMDC’s 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment as lieutenants more than two decades ago.
“Greg, you know you’re like my brother,” Eickhoff said in her first speech after taking command of the unit. “And I truly appreciate all the effort you put into our transition. It’s so nice to be taking over from a respected peer and, yes, my oldest, closest most trusted friend.”
Brady is moving on to take over as deputy commander of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Eickhoff’s recent assignments include time as the plans and operations officer for the 32nd AAMDC and deputy air defense commander (forward) in the 609th Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udied, Qatar. Eickhoff followed up that assignment with another year deployed to Kuwait as the Army Central and Combined Joint Task Force-III Air and Missile Defense Chief in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.