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Lt. Gen. Robert B. Brown, commanding general of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, will be the next leader of all Army forces in the Pacific.
The Army reported that Brown relinquished command of Fort Leavenworth on Thursday and will become commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii. He will lead about 80,000 soldiers stationed in the Pacific basin, from the northwest coast of Alaska to Japan. Forces in South Korea are part of a separate command.
Brown was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday to receive his fourth star at Fort Shafter.
He will replace Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who will become commander of U.S. Forces Korea. Brooks’ new South Korea assignment also was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday night.
Brooks will replace Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, whose nomination to become the next NATO supreme allied commander in Europe also was approved Thursday by the Senate.
Brown had served as commander of Fort Leavenworth and the Combined Arms Center training facility since February 2014. Previously, he had led I Corps and Joint Base
Lewis-McChord in Washington state from 2012 to 2014.
Brown graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1981 and served as commander of a mechanized infantry battalion at Fort Hood in Texas; a Stryker brigade at Fort Lewis in Washington, which included a deployment to Iraq; and the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Brown has also served as executive assistant to the Pacific Command commander and director of training and exercises at Camp Smith; deputy commanding general for support of the 25th Infantry Division, which included a deployment to Iraq; chief of staff for U.S. Army Europe; and deputy commanding general for U.S. Army NATO.
He has a Master of Education with an emphasis on instructional technology from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Science in national security and strategic studies from National Defense University.
The Senate on Thursday also confirmed the appointment of Pacific Air Forces leader Gen. Lori Robinson as the new head of the U.S. Northern Command. She is currently stationed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
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