From left, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez and Brig. Gen. Daniel Hahn salute during the playing of the national anthem at a farewell and welcome ceremony Wednesday in Heidelberg, Germany. Wojdakowski is the outgoing deputy commander for V Corps and Hahn is its incoming deputy commander. Sanchez is V Corps commander. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
From left, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez and Brig. Gen. Daniel Hahn salute during the playing of the national anthem at a farewell and welcome ceremony Wednesday in Heidelberg, Germany. Wojdakowski is the outgoing deputy commander for V Corps and Hahn is its incoming deputy commander. Sanchez is V Corps commander. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Soldiers from Battery B, 1st Battalion, 27th Field Artillery from Babenhausen, Germany, fire a 13-gun salute, honoring Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, the outgoing V Corps deputy commander, at a farewell and welcome ceremony Wednesday in Heidelberg, Germany. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, the outgoing deputy commander for V Corps, speaks at a farewell and welcome ceremony Wednesday in Heidelberg. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Brig. Gen. Daniel Hahn, the incoming deputy commander for V Corps. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
HEIDELBERG, Germany — Brig. Gen. Daniel A. Hahn took over duties as V Corps’ second in command from Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski in a ceremony Wednesday on Campbell Barracks.
Hahn, who is no stranger to V Corps with three previous assignments, said he is prepared to take on the challenges of his new job.
After the ceremony, the new deputy commander said he intends to keep the welfare of soldiers foremost in his mind. To Hahn, “soldiers” include troops, their family members and the Army civilians that make up the V Corps team.
“Everything, as a leader, that you do should always be about soldiers,” Hahn said after the ceremony.
“There’s only one corps commander and as the deputy corps commander it’s my job to make sure that his intent, his guidance, his direction ... gets down to our soldiers really at the point of the spear — where the rubber meets the road.”
During the ceremony at Victory Park, with the the V Corps headquarters as backdrop, the V Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, said he was happy to have Hahn back at V Corps.
“Dan’s a war fighter who has been tested and who has proven himself in combat,” Sanchez said of Hahn, who was in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell and then continued leading troops through Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and into Iraqi Freedom.
“As the corps prepares to return to combat, his experience, counsel and leadership will be key to the smooth transition of the corps into the multinational sword in Iraq. There is no better general officer for this task.”
Hahn said he is honored to be in his new post.
“It makes me feel very good that people would have enough confidence in me to give me these awesome responsibilities. But, at the same time, I say that with a sense of humility. ... There’s so many things that need to be done that sometimes you lose sight of what’s really important. And, again, what’s most important are our soldiers and their families — making sure they’re taken care of.”
During the transfer of authority ceremony, Wojdakowski, who was the V Corps deputy commander for more than two years, thanked all the major subordinate commands for making him “a better soldier.”
Wojdakowski made a temporary “march across the parade field” to take his new post as acting U.S. Army Europe deputy commander before assignment to his next duty station.
Before the ceremony, his wife, Candy Wojdakowski, received the commanding general’s coin and was honored for her service to the military community.
