Second Infantry Division Changes Command
There has been a change of leadership for the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea:
The 2nd Infantry Division soldiers came out to salute their outgoing and incoming commanding generals at Camp Casey Indianhead Field on Thursday.
Maj. Gen. James Coggin accepted the ceremonial colors from outgoing Maj. Gen. George Higgins in front of dignitaries and the division parading units.
Coggin previously was assistant chief of staff for operations of the U.N. Command, the Combined Forces Command and United States Forces Korea. Higgins heads to Washington, D.C., to become Army assistant deputy chief of staff.
Coggin thanked the Army leadership for trusting him with the division command.
General Higgins is actually leaving command a little bit earlier than most Division Commanders. Usually Division Commanders serve for two years. MG Higgins took command in September 2004. His early departure is probably due to the timing of the job opening at the Pentagon that he heading to next.
MG Higgins really is one of the good guys in the Army. What I liked about MG Higgins the most was that he wasn’t an arrogant cigar smoking MacArthur wanna be, as I have seen many other generals give the persona of wanting to be. MG Higgins is extremely intelligent and the fact that he used to be a West Point instructor is quite evident because he is always trying to teach and educate soldiers that he interacts with. Plus he has spent a lot of time in Korea and understood the country very well. He also advocated very hard for soldiers to take part in all the Good Neighbor Projects in hopes of improving relations with the surrounding communities.
MG Higgins was a good commander and will be missed. It is to bad that MG Higgins tenure will be most remembered for taxi cab related incidents.
MG Coggins during his tenure as commander will most assuredly be faced with moving the 2nd ID to Camp Humphreys once the expansion of the facility is complete. This will be huge logistical undertaking that is sure to keep him up at night. Not to mention dealing with the anti-US protests that are sure to continue as the division makes the move. The next two years could be an interesting time to serve for the new 2ID Commander. Good Luck.
