U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Richard E. Angle, Deputy Commanding General Operations U.S. Army Cyber Command, participates in a working lunch during the Joint Warfighting Assessment on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wa., May 1, 2019. (Torrance Saunders/U.S. Army)
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Tribune News Service) — The 1st Special Forces Command has a new leader.
Maj. Gen. John Brennan relinquished command Aug. 12 to Maj. Gen. Richard E. Angle during a change of command ceremony at Fort Bragg.
The command is responsible for more than 23,000 Army special operations forces soldiers within its 11 brigade-level units that include Special Forces, Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs, and Special Operations Sustainment units, a news release stated.
Presiding over the ceremony was Lt. Gen. Fran Beaudette, before Beaudette's own command change from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command the following day.
Brennan, who oversaw the 1st Special Forces Command since November 2019, will take command of Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve in the coming months.
He thanked the men and women of 1st Special Forces Command for what they do for the "country every single day."
"The nation owes you a great debt of gratitude, for no other organization can do what you do as the nation's only (Army special operations forces) division," Brennan said.
The new commander, Angle, previously serving as deputy commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which is also at Fort Bragg.
In that role he "assigned, attached and augmented forces to conduct special operations against threats to protect homeland and U.S. interests abroad," his biography states.
Angle has participated in contingency and combat operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and the Philippines.
Commissioning as an infantry officer in 1991, he previously served with the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment at Hohenfels, Germany; 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, in Fort Carson, Colorado, and commanded the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, in Okinawa, Japan.
His other assignments included military assistant to the Secretary of the Army; as chief of staff of U.S. Army Special Operations Command; deputy commanding general of the 1st Special Forces Command and deputy commanding general of operations for the Army Cyber Command.
"I am humbled by the honor and privilege to rejoin your ranks and to be part of a remarkably unique and capable organization that, without fanfare or praise, goes about the business of protecting this great nation as consummate, quiet professionals," Angle said during the command change.
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