New US commander for ISAF Regional Command East

The 82nd Airborne Division takes over: (via Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs):

The commander of Fort Bragg’s 82nd Airborne Division has taken charge of NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Maj. Gen. Mike Scaparrotti assumed responsibility Wednesday for Regional Command East, which spans 14 provinces along the Pakistan border.

He and his division headquarters will run operations for a year. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Capel is on his second tour as the top enlisted soldier in the region.

Scaparrotti’s Combined Joint Task Force 82 has responsibility for more than 24,000 troops, said Master Sgt. Thomas Clementson, a spokesman. About 22,000 are from the United States and 2,000 are from other NATO countries [mainly Polish, in Ghazni province]. About 32,000 Afghan troops are in the region.

In a ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Scaparrotti replaced Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.

“The leadership of the 101st forged an exceptional team,” Scaparrotti said.

The transition came 15 months after Schloesser replaced then-Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, Scaparrotti’s predecessor as 82nd commander.

President Obama has nominated Rodriguez, now a three-star general, to be second in command to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan. McChrystal told a Senate committee Tuesday that he would like for Rodriguez to oversee NATO’s five regional commands in Afghanistan [emphasis added--see end of this post].

Scaparrotti and his command team are just one element of a growing 82nd presence in Afghanistan.

The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade is working for a Dutch major general in Regional Command South in Kandahar.

The 4th Brigade Combat Team is training at Fort Bragg to deploy later this year to southern [emphasis added] and western Afghanistan [as trainers for Afghans, see end of this post].

Photo from the 82nd Airborne website:

82nd Airborne assumes command of RC-East from 101st Airborne in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (June 3, 2009) – Fifteen months after transferring authority of Regional Command-East, the 82^nd Airborne Division is back and officially assumed command of RC-East from the 101^st Airborne Division (Air Assault) during a ceremony at Bagram Airfield June 3.

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