McFarland turns over garrison command. Wednesday ceremony installs Col. Thomas Boone

Sierra Vista Herald ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — In the Army, two years in a leadership position goes by quickly and “in a blink of an eye,” the old commander leaves and a new ones takes over.

That’s how Thomas Schoenbeck described a hand off of command Wednesday morning on Brown Parade Field when Col. Dan McFarland turned over the reigns of the garrison to Col. Thomas Boone.

“The most valuable gift you can give is your time,” Schoenbeck said and that’s what McFarland did for soldiers and their families and for the garrison’s civilian work force while obtaining the support of off-post civilian communities.

While the ceremony is a farewell to McFarland, it is also a welcome to Boone, said Schoenbeck, who is the Director of the Installation Management Command’s Central Region.

Even though the two years passed quickly, many things were accomplished under McFarland’s tenure, Schoenbeck said.

Just recently — last Friday — the ground breaking for the largest solar array in the Department of Defense took place on the post, but it took 18 months of hard work by McFarland and others in the garrison to ensure it would happen, Schoenbeck said.

And the fort is now on the path to “be the first energy-secured installation” he said.

During his time in command McFarland was “the right person at the right time,” the regional director said.

Saying the outgoing commander “was inspired and is inspiring,” Schoenbeck told McFarland, “your leadership here will stand the test of time.”

McFarland who is heading to an assignment in Afghanistan, noted his family — wife Kim and sons Christian and Conor — will remain in the area while he is deployed because they feel comfortable with the local communities on and off the post.

Or, as the colonel put it, the area reminds him of the old TV show, “Mayberry RFD” and is so welcoming, his family “will stay right here.”

His command tour was exceptional because his staff and garrison workers, who not only did what was needed but went beyond what was required, McFarland said, noting many by name.

Taking everything into account, he said, “this is a great community … thanks for making me look good.”

Noting on many occasions he has had to work late, missing family events, McFarland said now that he has turned in his Blackberry and cleaned out his inbox, “I’m going to do a late morning run, play a roound of golf, and honey, I’ll be home late.” It was a comment that elicited laughter from the audience.

And as Schoenbeck earlier said, now the responsibilities are in Boone’s hands.

Typically an incoming commander makes a short speech and Bone followed the tradition, synopsizing his views of command leadership into three elements — by “doing the right thing every day … taking care of soldiers and their families” and when a problem or issue comes up, repeat the first rule of doing the right thing.

McFarland’s history

Outgoing Fort Huachuca Garrison Commander Col. Dan McFarland is a native of South Carolina and is a graduate of The Citadel and was commissioned into the Military Intelligence Corps

He has a master’s degree from the Sellinger School at Loyola College in Maryland, and recently completed the U.S. Army War College Interagency Fellowship with the Central Intelligence Agency.

He has served in a number of intelligence assignments during his military career at levels ranging from platoon leader to brigade commander and has served overseas in Germany, Bosnia, Thailand Afghanistan and Iraq.

Incoming commander Col. Thomas Boone, has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor University and enlisted in the Army. He then went to Officer’s Candidate School and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer in 1993.

He also has two master’s degrees one from Central Michigan University and the other from the U.S. Army War College.

He has held a number of intelligence assignments, including two when deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He comes to the garrison position after being the director of the Training Development and Support Directorate at the Intelligence Center of Excellence on Fort Huachuca.

Married, he and his wife Stephanie have two children, Emily and Evan.