Col. Joshua Gaspard takes the colors of the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, commanding general of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa at a July 6, 2023, change of command ceremony in Vicenza, Italy. (Facebook/173rd Airborne Brigade)
Command of the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade changed hands Thursday during a ceremony at its headquarters in Vicenza, Italy.
Col. Joshua Gaspard, who two decades ago served with the 173rd as leader of a platoon that was part of the initial push into Iraq in 2003, replaced Col. Michael Kloepper.
Kloepper is headed to the U.S. Military Academy as an instructor, Army officials said.
Gaspard arrives in Vicenza after a recent stint as a national security fellow at the Hoover Institution think tank in California. Before that, he served as a division operations officer with the 25th Infantry and also deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gaspard is one of the Army’s fast-rising officers, having received a “brevet promotion” to colonel in February 2021. The speedy promotion system is focused on identifying leaders serving in a position above their current rank and pegs them for promotion outside the normal cycle.
The color guard and soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade stand in formation at the unit's change of command ceremony in Vicenza, Italy, on July 6, 2023. Col. Joshua Gaspard replaced the outgoing commander, Col. Michael Kloepper, at the ceremony. (Facebook/173rd Airborne Brigade)
The outgoing commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Col. Michael Kloepper, speaks at the change of command ceremony in Vicenza, Italy, on July 6, 2023. Kloepper handed over command to Col. Joshua Gaspard. (Facebook/173rd Airborne Brigade)
In a March talk at the Hoover Institution, Gaspard recounted some career highlights. A 2002 West Point graduate, he recalled watching the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as a cadet.
“The terror attacks occurred just nine months before graduation, so it really changed the trajectory of my career in the Army, which was about to get started,” he said.
His first wartime deployment came in March 2003, when he was part of an airborne assault in northern Iraq as a platoon leader. After that 12-month mission, he deployed to Afghanistan, again with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Gaspard takes command of the brigade as it has shifted focus from the Middle East to Europe. Its paratroopers now largely are dedicated to missions with NATO allies amid the altered security environment on the Continent caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
