{"id":154837,"date":"2024-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=154837"},"modified":"2024-04-22T20:23:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:23:34","slug":"it-was-done-v-corps-original-plank-holder-concludes-career-in-ancestral-homeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=154837","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It Was Done\u2019: V Corps \u2018original plank holder\u2019 concludes career in ancestral homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Then-Maj. Gen. John Kolasheski, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, prepares for the 1st ID Combat Aviation Brigade change of command July 19, 2019 at Storck Barracks, Germany. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Patrick Jubrey)
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\n Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, the outgoing commander of V Corps, hands V Corps\u2019 colors to Gen. Darryl Williams, the commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, during the Victory Corps change of command ceremony in Poznan, Poland, April 8, 2024. Kolasheski handing the colors to Williams signified the completion of his mission as the V Corps commanding general. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jameson Harris)
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The final mission of Lt. Gen. John S. Kolasheski\u2019s distinguished career was a doozy. He organized, trained, equipped, deployed, and commanded a storied Army formation amid smoldering international tensions and the highest of stakes for regional security. Fittingly, the \u201cVictory Corps,\u201d its Soldiers and its commanding general all returned to their roots in the process.<\/p>\n

However apropos or even poetic, Kolasheski\u2019s culminating mission was emphatically not easy.<\/p>\n

The corps, prominent in European missions from its inception during the latter stages of World War I through the liberation of Europe in 1944 and the ensuing Cold War, fittingly deactivated in Wiesbaden, Germany in 2012. Following its reactivation in 2020, the Corps, its incoming commander and a tiny but dedicated team of \u201cplank holders\u201d fell in at the Maude Complex on Fort Knox, buckled their chinstraps and launched into a consuming drive toward \u201cfull operational capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CG, known throughout his tenure as \u201cK3\u201d (shorthand for his name and rank), and his fledgling staff confronted the herculean task of assembling and developing a \u201cthree-star\u201d headquarters from scratch as fills poured in from units and schools across the Army. A pitiless series of intense training events, inspections and administrative activities ensued, testing the patience if not the sanity of leaders and Soldiers alike. Battling through COVID restrictions that exacerbated already long odds, the corps miraculously achieved \u201cFOC\u201d status in fall of 2021, just over 12 months after activation.<\/p>\n

Rather than a respite, destiny dealt the \u201cfully operational\u201d but thoroughly exhausted corps and its commander another challenging and even more consequential mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then immediately we were deployed during probably the most critical period of time, at least in recent history and the last 50 years in Europe,\u201d K3 recalled. \u201cAfter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we became responsible for all of the rotational forces, as well as some of the assigned brigades in an area that’s about 2,000 kilometers, by about 1,500 kilometers square.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aggressive timeline \u2013 corps personnel reached Poland and Germany within a few months of attaining FOC \u2013 surprised the world, not to mention the Soldiers. But the mission did not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re purposefully built for our theater of operations,\u201d K3 said. \u201cThe timing of our activation and certification were highly significant: it gave Army senior leadership, the Joint Staff and (Office of the Secretary of Defense) options in terms of appropriate command and control headquarters in Europe ready to assume responsibilities as we saw events unfold in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unique construct, posture and mission distinguished the corps from its rebirth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re America’s only forward-deployed corps \u2013 we’ve got about a third of the headquarters in place in Poland and the other two thirds back at Fort Knox,\u201d K3 observed, noting the unique substance of his team\u2019s mission. \u201cIt\u2019s not just training and exercises, not just the partnering locally, but the warfighting symposiums, the lethality initiatives \u2013 those are all, I think, critically important as we look at taking this generational opportunity that we have as an alliance, to consolidate gains, fully implement the deterrence and defense of the Euro-Atlantic area (typically expressed by the acronym \u201cDDA\u201d) and executable plans focused on large scale combat that flow from DDA so that we never see another Ukraine in the future, but we are prepared to defend the alliance if deterrence fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corps command marks the pinnacle of a career spanning three and a half decades and including key leadership assignments at U.S. Army Forces Command, 1st Infantry Division, and 4th Infantry Division. No stranger to the demands and grim realities of war, K3 commanded a brigade in Afghanistan and a squadron in Iraq in addition to combat duty as a senior staff officer. His career came full circle when he assumed command at V Corps. After earning his commission as an armor officer from Bucknell University in 1989, he attended the Armor Officer Basic Course \u2013 then conducted at Fort Knox. Three decades later, he returned to Knox as CG of \u201cAmerica\u2019s forward-deployed corps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps destined for senior leadership in Europe, K3\u2019s journeys took him from Heidelberg and Schweinfurt to Wurzburg, Heidelberg and finally Ansbach in Germany, not to mention his warm intimacy with field life at the legendary theater training hub at Grafenwoehr.<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Polish Armed Forces Day Reception held August 17, 2023, in Warsaw. (courtesy photo)
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\n Polish Army Lt. Gen. Marek Soko\u0142owski, acting commander of Polish General Command poses for a photo with U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, commanding general, V Corps, rafter presenting him with an award during the Warfighting Symposium in Warsaw, Poland, Dec. 13, 2023. The first Warfighting Symposium was held to start a continuous dialogue on military tactics to bolster interoperability between the U.S., Poland and other NATO forces. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Devin Klecan)
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\n World War II Veterans and representatives of those who could not be in attendance receive a challenge coin at the Eternal Heroes Monument in Normandy, France, June 2, 2022. World War II Veterans and representatives of the 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division\u2019s (Air Assault) came to honor fallen Paratroopers who liberated Ravenoville in June of 1944. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Vincent Levelev)
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Notwithstanding the division\u2019s location at Fort Riley on the Kansas plains, moreover, his extensive tenure with 1st ID featured a heavy mix of European-facing missions, both as a field grade and a general officer. As \u201cDanger 6\u201d \u2013 the call sign for CG \u2013 \u201c24 of the 27 months of my command were focused on support in the European theater of operations. We resourced the division forward headquarters and we put several rotational units into Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Then-Col. John Kolasheski, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, directs operations in February 2011 during a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation in preparation for the brigade\u2019s deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom later that year. (courtesy photo)
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K3\u2019s command of those rotational units began almost poetically in his ancestral homeland. \u201cDuring the initial activation of the headquarters,\u201d he recalled, \u201cI was promoted, and we unfurled the Corps\u2019 colors at Kosciuszko Mound in Krakow, Poland. It\u2019s kind of fitting since our forward headquarters is named Camp Kosciuszko.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe countless rotational divisions that have come through, and the brigades associated with them, they’ve had an impact \u2013 a strategic and operationally positive impact,\u201d he said. \u201cThey understand that they must be ready to defend alongside other members of the alliance NATO territory if deterrence fails, so yes, their presence, their warfighting readiness, their service matters. Same thing with this corps headquarters. It provides the leadership, the guidance, the resources, and the direction these formations require, \u201824\/7\u2019, 365 days a year. So, this assignment has been special for me and strategically important for our Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

K3 counts driving interoperability and increasing Alliance warfighting and lethality among his proudest career achievements.<\/p>\n

Gen. Darryl Williams, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander, provided historic context for K3\u2019s role in regional security and the European alliance system during the change of command ceremony, held April 8 at the corps\u2019 forward headquarters on Camp Kosciusko, that marked the culmination of Kolasheski\u2019s corps command and Army career.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn\u2019s strategic timing and personal commitment assured the corps met urgent critical needs in Europe,\u201d Williams told a robust allied audience. \u201cJohn brought V Corps back to Europe. The corps and its two divisions integrated with our allies and partners, executing its assure and deter mission in support of NATO.\u201d Moreover, he \u201cfostered enduring relationships with our allies and partners, enhancing interoperability and reinforcing European security architecture\u201d at a time when \u201cV Corps forward in Europe is perhaps more important than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis strategic view of the operational environment is unmatched and has been the driving force for change,\u201d added Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Harris, the corps senior enlisted leader from fall 2021 through summer 2023. \u201cHis ability to build partner relationships and build international capacity is beyond comprehension.\u201d<\/p>\n

K3 leveraged his understanding and team building skills to develop individuals, formations and even regional partnerships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what comes through for me is Lt. Gen. Kolasheski’s passion for warfighting and training the next generation of leaders,\u201d said Col. Wilbur Hsu, who commands the corps\u2019 main artillery formation and spearheaded a series of \u201csummits\u201d on the signature High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System initiative. \u201cI haven’t seen a person more invested in sharing lessons across the community and driving the discussion to make people better. From NATO interoperability to core warfighting, Lt. Gen. Kolasheski spends a significant amount of his time-teaching others to make them better, which I think is an amazing trait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poised, measured, immersive and intense, K3 digested and processed unfathomable quantities of information and plumbed depths of detail usually unexplored by micro-biologists or accountants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve run across a more focused and disciplined officer in any branch or any component,\u201d Maj. Gen. Timothy Thombleson, the corps deputy commanding general, said during the runup to the change of command. \u201cThe rest of the world doesn\u2019t necessarily see the intense preparation that goes into everything he says and does. He scrutinizes everything and agonizes over every detail. He understands the gravity of his words and actions and puts incredible energy into doing the right thing every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski receives a commemorative plaque bearing the V Corps insignia and motto from V Corps Command Sgt. Maj. Philip Blaisdell as Maj. Gen. Timothy Thombleson, the corps deputy commanding general, looks on during a farewell dinner held March 28 at the Saber & Quill on Fort Knox (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Maj. Mike Pintagro)
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\u201cThe demands he imposes on himself are extraordinary,\u201d added the Indiana National Guardsman, who served in two key senior leadership roles during K3\u2019s tenure. \u201cTruthfully, they\u2019d probably crush most guys. We definitely put in a day\u2019s work at V Corps, but the man who works the hardest is the one who commands it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sugar-coating the rigors of life in senior command. The demands on a senior leader\u2019s time, patience, energy and physical not to mention mental stamina simply beggar belief. Unlike even the most conscientious of subordinates, a senior commander remains fully engaged during all meetings and events. K3\u2019s military duties frequently consumed every waking hour of his day. Weeks and months passed without significant \u201cdown time.\u201d The six-hour gap between European and local time in Kentucky compounded the burdens of a relentless travel schedule.<\/p>\n

Those burdens are often transparent to subordinate leaders and Soldiers, who frequently associate the unforgiving operational tempo and daunting requirements with senior leaders rather than the harsh realities of the European theater and mission set in the 2020s. Those closest to K3 saw a side of him not readily apparent during most staff meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe truly cares about Soldiers and families,\u201d said Harris, a dynamic part of the corps \u201ccommand team\u201d for much of K3\u2019s tenure and one of his closest confidants. \u201cHe puts a lot of thought and deliberation into decisions that affect Soldiers and families… he takes that on fully and owns that as his responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, V Corps commanding general, issues the oath of enlistment to Paratroopers assigned to Task Force 82 during a re-enlistment ceremony at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base (MKAB), Romania Feb. 15, 2024. Task Force 82 is a major subordinate command to V Corps and oversees U.S. Army operations throughout the Black Sea region in Eastern Europe. (U.S. Army photo by Major Matt Diaz \/ Released)
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\u201cHe has personally been a mentor and friend to me and my family,\u201d Harris added. \u201cHe is the definition of what engaged and committed leadership is supposed to be. He is an example to all, and his leadership will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

K3\u2019s own family life blended naturally into his professional role. Born into a distinguished Army family (his father served for more than a quarter-century and commanded an armor battalion in Germany in the late 1970s) and married into another, he subsequently joined a third when his sister married then-1st<\/p>\n

Lt. and now Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie. Appropriately, Norrie subsequently commanded a division under K3\u2019s purview along \u201cEurope\u2019s Eastern Flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

K3 married his wife Buffy as a young captain at Fort Carson, Colorado. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty darned special,\u201d he recalled, \u201csurrounded by family and friends at the same chapel where my father-in-law would go on Sundays when he commanded the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson back in the late 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Gen. John and Buffy Kolasheski await the V Corps change of command ceremony April 8, 2024 at Camp Kosciuszko in Poznan, Poland (Photo by Mary Kolasheski)
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\u201cMy husband and I met in middle school,\u201d Buffy added. \u201cWe both grew up in the Army, so we truly don\u2019t know any other way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple takes immense pride in the three grown daughters Kolasheski described as \u201csimply the finest people I know\u201d during his change-of-command. They\u2019re also partial to Golden Retrievers like their gigantic dog Hudson, albeit \u201che\u2019s a handful.\u201d The family cat rounds out the household. K3 somehow remained physically active, healthy, and fit throughout his command notwithstanding his merciless meeting schedule and weakness for pizza and gelato. He prioritized family activities as much as humanly possible under the circumstances, and somehow managed to attend a healthy share of his daughters\u2019 milestone events.<\/p>\n

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\n Then-Lt. Col. John Kolasheski enjoys a hero’s welcome from wife Buffy and three daughters after his return from Iraq in spring of 2008. (Courtesy photo)
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Buffy, who dedicated much of her own life\u2019s energy to Army and unit family advocacy endeavors since the couple\u2019s marriage in 1993, acknowledges the hardships inherent in frequent moves and \u201cthe Army way of life,\u201d noting the couple\u2019s youngest daughter \u201cattended 11 different schools by the time she was a senior in high school\u201d as well as \u201cthe long hours, separations, deployments and missed family events.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she has no regrets after more than three decades as an Army wife and mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the life we\u2019ve chosen, and I think we\u2019re better for it,\u201d she said, noting other walks of life also entail hardship and sacrifice, and that the family deliberately sought out and embraced communities and opportunities around the world. \u201cIf we could rewind and start all over again, we would! It\u2019s been a fabulous career with fabulous, lifelong friends we\u2019ve met along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prominent among those \u201clifelong friends\u201d are subordinate leaders grateful for K3\u2019s devotion and mentorship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sincerely appreciate his leadership, support, and dedication to the corps, our Soldiers, and their families,\u201d Hsu said. \u201cHe has made the corps a stronger, better unit and is leaving a lasting legacy on the U.S. Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modest, reserved and substantive by temperament, K3 typically deflects credit and attention, invariably steering focus back to mission, organization, and national objectives. Gratitude, kindness, and humility lurk just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been just given a unique opportunity and I am very, very thankful for it,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve never taken it for granted. I have worked very, very hard to live up to the ideals, the values that are baked into our U.S. Soldiers. I’m thankful and I have throughout my career tried to follow the Golden Rule and be somebody that does things for good and drives positive change. It truly has been an honor to serve and as a Polish American, it has been an honor to lead V Corps from Poland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Then-Maj. Gen. John Kolasheski, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, prepares for the 1st ID Combat Aviation Brigade change of command July 19, 2019 at Storck Barracks, Germany. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Patrick Jubrey) (Photo Credit: Courtesy) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 \/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154839,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=154837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154850,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154837\/revisions\/154850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/154839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=154837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=154837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=154837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}