{"id":17381,"date":"2023-07-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=17381"},"modified":"2023-07-03T06:41:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T06:41:42","slug":"u-s-army-garrison-okinawa-gains-new-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=17381","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Army Garrison Okinawa gains new commander"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, center, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan, hands the USAG Okinawa unit colors to incoming Commander Lt. Col. Rachel R. Bowers, left, as outgoing Commander Lt. Col. Ryan S. Gladding looks on during a change-of-command ceremony held June 30 at Torii Station, Okinawa.
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TORII STATION, Okinawa \u2013 The new commander of U.S. Army Garrison Okinawa officially took on her role during a ceremony held here Friday.<\/p>\n

The USAG Okinawa team and members of the Torii Station community welcomed incoming USAG Okinawa Commander Lt. Col. Rachel R. Bowers and bid farewell to the outgoing commander, Lt. Col. Ryan S. Gladding, during the morning ceremony held at the Coral Cove ballroom.<\/p>\n

During her remarks, Bowers said she was excited to join the Installation Management Command team, and thanked her husband, Joe; their children, Skylar, Oryanna, Toryan and Alyta; and her mother, Joyce, for their amazing support.<\/p>\n

She also thanked Gladding for assisting with her transition to command.<\/p>\n

\u201cLieutenant Colonel Gladding, thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for Torii Station and the U.S. Army Soldiers, civilians and family members throughout Okinawa,\u201d she said. \u201cI could not have asked for a smoother transition or better officer to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said how impressed she\u2019s already been with the Garrison team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to leading the team and working together to enable readiness, guided by Army values, through world-class service and support to the people of Torii Station and the greater Okinawa community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, U.S. Army Garrison Japan commander, traveled from Camp Zama, Japan, to host the ceremony. He welcomed Bowers and her family to the Garrison, saying he was confident Bowers would embrace the challenge of serving as the Garrison commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour years of service in the military police corps\u2014and your focus on people\u2014have undoubtedly prepared you for this next challenge,\u201d Tomlinson said. \u201cI have no doubt you are going to do an exceptional job here. You\u2019re joining an exceptional organization \u2026 a great garrison family.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his final speech to the Garrison, Gladding thanked his \u201cGarrison Okinawa family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am awe of what this team does every day,\u201d Gladding said. He thanked multiple members of the team, highlighting their specific accomplishments, from responding to real-world emergencies to addressing higher-headquarters inspections, from ensuring the Garrison\u2019s infrastructure will withstand the test of time to improving the family and Soldiers support programs.<\/p>\n

He thanked his former and current senior enlisted advisers, Command Sgts. Maj. Kalani Kalili and TaJuana Nixon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the reason our (noncommissioned officer) corps is the envy of our allies and the nightmare of our enemies,\u201d Gladding said.<\/p>\n

He also recognized his deputy, Richard Bain, for being \u201cthe right person at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for bringing your expertise and applying it to some of the garrison\u2019s most challenging problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gladding\u2019s parents, Ed and Phyllis, attended the ceremony, and Gladding thanked them for \u201cinstilling your best qualities in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to be your son and elated to share this moment with you here today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gladding also had a special message for his wife, Amber, and their son, Hunter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for your steadfast support,\u201d he said. \u201cI will always cherish the memories we made here on Okinawa and I look forward to all our future adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomlinson thanked Gladding and his family for their \u201cservice to our community here at Torii Station.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USAG Japan commander said Gladding hit the ground running two years ago upon taking command, and quickly developed strong relationships with his staff, tenant unit leadership, the joint military community on Okinawa, and his off-post partners and community leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese efforts ensured the Garrison was postured to positively affect the readiness and power-projection capabilities of all Army forces on Okinawa at this most critical point in the Indo-Pacific,\u201d Tomlinson said.<\/p>\n

He said Gladding\u2019s leadership of the dynamic, multifunctional and geographically isolated Garrison positively impacted the life, health, safety and morale of the Soldiers, civilians and families of his community.<\/p>\n

Tomlinson also thanked Gladding for focusing on strengthening the Garrison\u2019s relationship with the local Okinawa host communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strong bond forged between our communities has grown stronger through your leadership, and it is a testament to your dedication, professionalism and genuine care for fostering international relationships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tomlinson said Gladding\u2019s experience as the Garrison commander will be of enormous value as he transitions into his new role with the 10th Support Group on Torii Station.<\/p>\n

Gladding said he could sum up everything he learned about Garrison leadership in the last two years with one word: Readiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough all the efforts of the people and organizations I mentioned \u2026 this garrison has drastically improved the readiness posture of United States Army Soldiers in the<\/em> priority theater,\u201d he said. \u201cI am truly humbled to be a small part of that legacy, and to call myself an alumni of the United States Army Garrison Okinawa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, center, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan, hands the USAG Okinawa unit colors to incoming Commander Lt. Col. Rachel R. Bowers, left, as outgoing Commander Lt. Col. Ryan S. Gladding looks on during a change-of-command ceremony held June 30 at Torii Station, Okinawa. (Photo Credit: Ichiro Tokashiki) VIEW ORIGINAL TORII STATION, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17383,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17381","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\/17381","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=17381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17384,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17381\/revisions\/17384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}