82nd Airborne has a new commander

FORT BRAGG -- A new commander took over the storied 82nd Airborne Division in a ceremony this morning.

Maj. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, 51, who twice earlier served at Fort Bragg, replaced Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, who led the unit during one of the busiest times in its history.

The 82nd's pace doesn't seem likely to slow under Rodriguez. One of the 82nd's four combat brigades will deploy to Iraq this summer, and the division headquarters and various infantry units will head for Afghanistan next winter.

"These are challenging times for our country and our world," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, whose last posting was in Iraq, has held various posts at Fort Bragg with the 82nd and its parent unit, the 18th Airborne Corps. He has been commander of the 82nd's 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and assistant chief of staff for operations of the 18th Airborne Corps.

Rodriguez was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry from West Point in 1976, and he served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Caldwell, an energetic and relentlessly upbeat man, is moving to a top staff job in Iraq. He took over the division about two years ago in what was seen as a move by the Pentagon to boost morale in the division, which was just coming off long deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He became known for spending much of his work day out among the troops as they trained. He took about 60 parachute jumps with the soldiers.

Caldwell's command encompassed one of the busiest stretches in the tradition-heavy division's history, with several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

At one point, the 82nd had paratroopers fighting in both wars and a large force in New Orleans, where Caldwell was put in command of the federal active duty troops charged with helping the city recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The division's role is to be available for rapid deployment anywhere in the world, essentially the nation's emergency response force. One brigade is on call to deploy anywhere within 18 hours, and a smaller unit is ready to respond on even shorter notice to a crisis on U.S. soil, such as a terrorist attack.

In an interview, Caldwell said the high points of his command included the Katrina mission and three short-term deployments to bolster security for elections in Afghanistan and Iraq. The paratroopers had only a few hours notice on the Katrina mission and about a week for the election deployments, but still pulled them off successfully.

"That just validated everything about what the 82nd Airborne Division represents," Caldwell said.

His new job -- deputy chief of staff for Strategic Effects at the Multinational Force in Iraq -- includes overseeing policy and economic development in Iraq for the multinational military force, as well as strategic communications.