New commander takes the reins at Schofield as Pacific tensions flare

About 5,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers stood at attention Thursday on Weyand Field as Maj. Gen. Ronald P. Clark took over command of the 25th Infantry Division from Maj. Gen. Christopher Cavoli.

The division’s 12,000 soldiers are a contingency force for conflict with North Korea.

Cavoli, who said he will be in Wiesbaden, Germany, at this time next week to take over U.S. Army Europe as a three-star general, noted that Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith, was there for the ceremony.

“We are ready for you, wherever you need us to go,” Cavoli said to Harris during his comments. “And you will need us to do something for you. It does not take a scientist to see the challenges in the Pacific today, ladies and gentlemen. This division stands ready for them.”

Clark is moving to Scho­field from Fort Shafter, where he was chief of staff for U.S. Army Pacific. The 1988 West Point graduate early in his career served at Schofield in command of B Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, and later as aide-de-camp to the division commanding general.

He was deputy commanding general for support with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., and in Iraq during Operation Inherent Resolve. He also was deputy chief of staff for operations for the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

“Ron, you are a proven war fighter, and you know how to build combat-ready units,” said Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, commander of I Corps in Washington state, the 25th’s higher headquarters.

Cavoli headed the “Tropic Lightning” division in Hawaii since Aug. 4, 2016.

“What we’ve seen over the last 24 months in the Pacific and the strategic impact that regional actors have, show us the challenges in this region are just as, if not more, important to our security than those we have faced previously in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Volesky said.

Cavoli’s ability to train his division for combat “has been the best I’ve ever seen,” Volesky said.

Gen. Robert Brown, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, was not able to attend the ceremony because he was in South Korea for a command change for 8th Army, the service’s top operational command there, officials said.

A command pass-in-review of the assembled soldiers was conducted from an open-backed Humvee, and three 105 mm howitzers boomed a total of 15 times during the ceremony.

“To the soldiers and families of the 25th Infantry Division and United States Army Hawaii, this is the greatest professional honor of my life, to return to Schofield Barracks and to serve in your ranks again,” Clark said.