Oates hands over control of Drum
FORT DRUM — Twelve years ago, Maj. Gen. Michael L. Oates and Maj. Gen. James L. Terry were both lieutenant colonels in the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.
On Thursday, Gen. Oates passed the 10th Mountain Division flag and command of Fort Drum and the division to his longtime friend and battle buddy, Gen. Terry. The two former battalion commanders served together in Haiti during Operation Restore Democracy from November 1994 to January 1995.
"He was the best battalion commander on the installation and the number two was a distant second," Gen. Oates said of his successor. "And that's a fact."
Gen. Terry joins the 10th Mountain Division from the Future Force Integration Directorate for the Army Capabilities Integration Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he served as director.
Gen. Terry, who is joined at Fort Drum by his wife, Julie, said at one time this assignment seemed a long way away.
"If you had asked us 31 years ago if we would be taking command of an Army division someday, we would have probably laughed at you," Gen. Terry said. "Recently I visited Memorial Park and reflected on what it might mean to serve this division and installation as commander and at the front of my mind were the soldiers that established and perpetuated our shared and enduring legacy. The responsibility for that proud legacy is now mine to sustain and carry forth."
His other assignments include brigade commander with the 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; commander of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., and a second tour with the 10th Mountain Division as commanding general for operations. He has deployed to Kuwait, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen. Terry said he knows what it means to be a 10th Mountain Division soldier and recognizes the changes that have occurred since he last served with the division from 2004 to 2007. The Georgia native called the north country his northern home and said that despite being assigned to Fort Drum for five winters, he spent only two physically here.
"Once you survive the winters here, you become tough," he said. "Julie, like many Army spouses in the audience, is highly qualified in snowblower operation."
Jokes aside, he said that preparing a soldier for combat is the first priority for the Army. A close second is taking care of the families. And taking care of families is something he said Gen. Oates and his wife, Barbara, have done extremely well since 2007.
He said that for the past two and a half years he has dealt with the future of the Army and spent the majority of his time looking at the how the Army will grow and change over time. He is excited to return to his roots and be back at an infantry division.
"I'm most looking forward to getting back to these great soldiers," he said. "I've been working on the future and I'm ready to get back into the current and take everything I've learned about that and bring it to the current force and make these great soldiers better."
Gen. Oates does not know yet what his next assignment will be.
