Army Col. Seth Graves, left, Camp Humphreys' outgoing commander; Craig Deatrick, director of Installation Management Command-Pacific; and Col. Ryan Workman, the garrison's incoming commander, take part in their change-of-command ceremony at the Morning Calm Center on the base south of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — Command of the largest U.S. military base overseas switched to an Army planner and former cavalry leader at this garrison south of Seoul on Tuesday.
Col. Ryan Workman, who has served nearly a decade in South Korea since being commissioned in 2000, took command of Camp Humphreys from Col. Seth Graves during a ceremony at the Morning Calm Center.
“I’m super excited to be back in Korea,” Workman told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. “I’ve spent a lot of my career here and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to serve the soldiers and the community members.”
Prior to taking command, Workman attended the Army War College and before that served at Humphreys as director of the Eighth Army Future Operations Directorate.
He began his Army service as a platoon leader with 7th Cavalry at the former Camp Garry Owen, South Korea, from 2001 to 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile. He commanded an 8th Cavalry squadron at Fort Stewart, Ga., from 2018 to 2020.
Other positions Workman has held in South Korea include division plans officer for the 2nd Infantry Division and training and readiness branch chief for U.S. Forces Korea.
Workman described South Korea as “like a second home” and said he looked forward to working with the Humphreys community.
Army Col. Seth Graves, Camp Humphreys' outgoing commander, gives a farewell speech during a change-of-command ceremony at the Morning Calm Center on the base south of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
Graves, in a farewell speech, thanked the Humphreys community and described it as the “finest example” of team players within the military.
He took command of the garrison on June 15, 2021.
During his tenure, COVID-19 surged to the highest number of cases seen by USFK until that time. Graves did not disclose precise case numbers at Humphreys but in a December 2021 Facebook post said the surge “is like nothing we’ve seen here on the installation since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Graves also facilitated Combined Forces Command’s move from Yongsan to Humphreys, a transition he described to Stars and Stripes on Tuesday as one of the “biggest things to occur in the [U.S.-South Korea] alliance in the last decade.”
Humphreys, 30 miles south of Seoul, has a population of roughly 35,500 people. It serves as the headquarters to USFK, U.N. Command, Combined Forces Command, Eighth Army and the 2nd Infantry Division.
Combined Forces Command, which oversees South Korea’s defense with 700,000 active-duty troops, was the last major command to move from the capital city to Humphreys on Nov. 15. USFK and U.N. Command moved to Humphreys four years earlier.
Graves heads to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo on Thursday to become director of manpower and personnel for U.S. Forces Japan.
He said he hoped Humphreys continues to receive funding and resources “because we have a large community here that we need to provide for.”
“We just need to make sure we continue to do that at a high level,” Graves said.
