Pentagon names Allyn to succeed Rodriguez at FORSCOM
After a slight delay, the Pentagon has named Lt. Gen. Daniel B. Allyn to succeed Gen. David Rodriguez as commander of U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Allyn has been commander of Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, and the XVIIIth Airborne Division for less than a year, since last June. FORSCOM, the Army’s largest command, is ...
After a slight delay, the Pentagon has named Lt. Gen. Daniel B. Allyn to succeed Gen. David Rodriguez as commander of U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM).
After a slight delay, the Pentagon has named Lt. Gen. Daniel B. Allyn to succeed Gen. David Rodriguez as commander of U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM).
Allyn has been commander of Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, and the XVIIIth Airborne Division for less than a year, since last June. FORSCOM, the Army’s largest command, is responsible for training and mobilizing soldiers worldwide and is also headquartered at Bragg. Allyn previously was a commander of Afghansitan’s Regional Command-East.
Rodriguez commanded FORSCOM just one year before getting the seemingly inevitable call up to the majors to become a U.S. combatant commander. In October, President Obama tapped Rodriguez to lead one of the Pentagon’s most important rising units, Africa Command (AFRICOM). “General Rod” is one of the most well-known generals in the military for his long service as the second-ranking officer in command of the Afghanistan war, where he ran day-to-day operations.
He was senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates before being tapped as the top war deputy to Gen. Stanley McChrystal and then Gen. David Petraeus. The Pentagon rewarded his service with a fourth-star and the command stateside at Bragg, starting in September 2011.
Rodriguez relinquished command of FORSCOM on March 19 with no successor yet named. FORSCOM’s deputy commander, Lt. Gen. William B. Garrett III, has served as acting commander ever since.
Rodriguez took command of AFRICOM from retiring Gen. Carter Ham on April 5.
Kevin Baron is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy, covering defense and military issues in Washington. He is also vice president of the Pentagon Press Association. Baron previously was a national security staff writer for National Journal, covering the "business of war." Prior to that, Baron worked in the resident daily Pentagon press corps as a reporter/photographer for Stars and Stripes. For three years with Stripes, Baron covered the building and traveled overseas extensively with the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, covering official visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, China, Japan and South Korea, in more than a dozen countries. From 2004 to 2009, Baron was the Boston Globe Washington bureau's investigative projects reporter, covering defense, international affairs, lobbying and other issues. Before that, he muckraked at the Center for Public Integrity. Baron has reported on assignment from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the South Pacific. He was won two Polk Awards, among other honors. He has a B.A. in international studies from the University of Richmond and M.A. in media and public affairs from George Washington University. Originally from Orlando, Fla., Baron has lived in the Washington area since 1998 and currently resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, three sons, and the family dog, The Edge. Twitter: @FPBaron
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