Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor greets soldiers arriving at Osan Air Base, South Korea, Feb. 21, 2024. (Liseth Espinel Cuervo/U.S. Army)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A new acting commander took charge recently of Eighth Army, the U.S. field army in South Korea, after his predecessor took on a new role as deputy commanding general of the service’s ROTC program.
Maj. Gen. William Taylor, previously the operations director for U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command, on Aug. 7 assumed command of Eighth Army from Brig. Gen. Sean Crockett, army spokesman James Choi said by email Tuesday.
All three commands and the 2nd Infantry Division are headquartered at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, about 40 miles south of Seoul in Pyeongtaek city.
A former director of Army Aviation, Taylor led 2nd ID at Humphreys from May 2023 to June 2024.
Crockett served as acting Eighth Army commander starting April 16 after Lt. Gen. Christopher LeNeve was appointed the senior military assistant at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C.
No public information is available on the selection of a permanent Eighth Army commander, according to Choi.
Crocket said it was “an absolute honor to serve alongside” U.S. and South Korean soldiers, as well as Defense Department civilians who worked for the army.
“Every exercise, every training iteration and every shared hardship strengthened our combined readiness and our alliance,” he said in an Army news release Monday. “I’m incredibly proud of the work this team has done.”
Crockett’s next posting is at the Cadet Command headquarters, which is responsible for training Army ROTC cadets from roughly 900 college campuses across the United States.
Choi declined to state whether Crockett had left South Korea as of Tuesday, citing “privacy and operational reasons.”
The Cadet Command’s website as of Tuesday still listed Brig. Gen. Steven King as its deputy commanding general.
Taylor was commissioned as an infantry officer in 1990 and graduated from Brigham Young University the following year.
“It’s an incredible honor to step into this role with 8th Army,” Taylor said in the release Monday. “I’ve worn this uniform for 36 years and every day I’m reminded that leadership is about trust, readiness, and people.”
His focus as acting army commander is to ensure “we remain ready to deter aggression, defend the Republic of Korea, and strengthen our alliance through shared sacrifice and unwavering resolve,” Taylor said in the release.
