Two Pearl Harbor admirals will be elevated to major Navy leadership positions including commander of the USS Reagan carrier strike group, the Pentagon announced last week.
Rear Adm. Richard L. "Rick" Williams Jr. will be assigned as commander of Carrier Strike Group Fifteen, home-ported in North Island, Calif. Williams is currently commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific.
Rear Adm. Bret Muilenburg, who has headed Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific for the past two years, will become commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Command and chief of civil engineers based in Washington, D.C.
Williams assumed command of Navy Region Hawaii in July 2013.
Williams graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and was commissioned through Navy ROTC as a surface warfare officer in June 1984.
He earned a master of business degree from the University of Maryland, and holds a master of arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
Williams commanded the frigate USS McInerney from 2002 through 2004.
His major assignments include command of Destroyer Squadron Two-Six, leading maritime security task groups in the Arabian Gulf from 2006 through 2008, serving as deputy 5th Fleet and director of maritime operations from 2008 through 2009 in support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, as well as directing maritime counterpiracy and counter-terrorist operations.
The Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is assigned as Carrier Strike Group Fifteen’s flagship. The carrier group comprises roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers and/or frigates and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft.
Muilenburg is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He has a master’s degree in engineering management from George Washington University and a master of science degree in environmental engineering and science from Stanford University.
Other recent promotions include:
» Army Maj. Gen. Todd B. McCaffrey, chief of staff at U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter to deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Pacific.
» Army Brig. Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, deputy commanding general for operations at the 25th Infantry Division, to assistant chief of staff for U.S. Army Pacific.
» Army Brig. Gen. Christopher P. Hughes, deputy commandant at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to chief of staff, U.S. Army Pacific.
» Army Brig. Gen. Patrick E. Matlock, deputy director for operations at the National Joint Operations Intelligence Center in Washington, D.C., to deputy commanding general at the 25th Infantry Division.
» Army Brig. Gen. Robert J. Ulses, assistant chief of staff at U.S. Army Pacific, to deputy commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
» Air Force Brig. Gen. Steven L. Basham, director, strategic plans, requirements and programs at Pacific Air Forces headquarters to deputy director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
» Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael A. Minihan, deputy director, air and cyberspace operations at Pacific Air Forces headquarters to deputy director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith.
» Air Force Brig. Gen. Dirk D. Smith, deputy director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command headquart- ers, to director of air and cyberspace operations at Pacific Air Forces head- quarters.
