Gallagher's leadership highlights command change

Sierra Vista Herald ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — With a toss of a football Wednesday morning Brig. Gen. Peter A. Gallagher symbolically handed off the leadership of the Network Enterprise Technology Command to Brig. Gen. John B. Morrison Jr.

It was a light moment following the formality of the assumption of command ceremony held in the Greely Hall auditorium, which saw senior officers speak about the importance of NETCOM.

The Army’s chief information officer Lt. Gen. Robert S. Ferrell praised the command for its work “providing unprecedented communications for over 12 years of war.”

It was NETCOM’s leadership, not only at the headquarters but its units around the world which is part of its success, Ferrell said.

It was the leadership of Gallagher as the deputy commander and commander during the past two years which ensured the success, he said.

Sequestration and furloughs were hard throughout the Army and Gallagher “never let NETCOM’s mission and support to our warfighters slip (and) he also didn’t let the furlough overwhelm the staff,” Ferrell said.

He personally greeted every returning employee when the furlough ended, the lieutenant general said.

“I hear a few folks were more than a little surprised when they were asked for their badge and looked up to find the commanding general (Gallagher) checking IDs and giving everyone a hearty ‘welcome back.’”

Noting NETCOM “is at the start of a new era,” Ferrell said Morrison has what is needed “to take NETCOM and the network forward.”

Agreeing with Ferrell was Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, who heads the Army Cyber Command/2nd Army, who said Gallagher kept NETCOM’s momentum going.

Noting Gallagher promised when he assumed command in August he told the NETCOM people he would give them his utmost and asked for theirs “and he kept his promise,” Cardon said.

As Ferrell did, Cardon also praised Gallagher’s wife Donna, and noted the new command team of Morrison, and his wife Ann, will continue to work for all the best for the soldiers, civilians and contractors assigned to NETCOM

As for Morrison, the Army Cyber Command general said he has “an impeccable reputation as a visionary leader … and will bring the same unmatched energy and drive to NETCOM as he has throughout his career.”

Gallagher thanked a number of people on the staff including command Sgt. Maj. Earl Allen and his wife Dede. Allen will be leaving for the Pentagon where he will become the senior enlisted adviser to Ferrell.

The general will leave sometime in May to become the chief information officer for the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

NETCOM has played major roles during the dozen years of combat as well as supporting activities in Jordan, the Pacific area and other places in the world, Gallagher said.

It was at the end of his comments, when Gallagher noted while he is a Kansas City Chiefs supporter and Morrison favors the Miami Dolphins and even the Chiefs lost to the Dolphins in a Super Bowl, there always is an expression in the game, “loose ball, my ball.”

With that he reached under the speaker’s podium and pulled out a football ball and threw it to Morrison saying “now it’s your ball.”

As the new commander walked over to the podium he pass the ball from hand-to-hand as if to say, “got it.”

Saying the nearly 16,000 members of the command operate and defend the Army’s networks every day, Morrison said, “I am honored and humbled to be able to serve with such a remarkable team.”

Noting he is part of the ongoing change in the Army, the general said, “my initial guidance is simple — embrace change, lead change, drive change, let’s go first.”