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| V Corps Unexpectedly Gets 2nd Deputy Commander In 3 Weeks |
| 2005-05-01 |
| Just three weeks after naming one deputy commander for V Corps, the Pentagon has unexpectedly appointed a second. Maj. Gen. John Batiste, outgoing commander of the 1st Infantry Division, was named V Corps deputy commander on Friday. Batiste now holds the same title as Brig. Gen. Daniel Hahn, who assumed his position on April 6. No mention was made then that Hahn would be joined by Batiste in what was previously a one-person position. What Batiste's duties will be and what his appointment signified are unclear. V Corps leaders Saturday were saying little about his new position. "Maj. Gen. Batiste is obviously very well qualified. We look forward to him joining the corps team," V Corps spokesman Brian McNerney said. "He knows the area of operations we're going to." V Corps' current commanding general, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, is due for reassignment or retirement in the next few months. Sanchez took command of the corps following the U.S. military's march into Baghdad about two years ago and led it through operations in Iraq. During Sanchez's command in Iraq, the Army was rocked by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Sanchez was recently cleared of culpability by an Army Inspector General report. But at a press conference last week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined to say what was next for Sanchez. "Everyone does not go on to another post; it gets tight at the top," Rumsfeld said. "And he is clearly a person in an important position at the present time, has been in the past, and he's a person who would be considered in the future." Batiste, 52, took the 1st ID to Iraq in February 2004, and headed Task Force Danger, a 22,000-troop force that included National Guard and 25th Infantry Division units as well as the Big Red One's three Germany-based brigades. The task force was credited with building new infrastructure while fighting an increasingly dangerous insurgency and improving its own bases from its headquarters in Tikrit. The 1st ID's tour wrapped up supervising the successful Iraqi elections. V Corps' headquarters will be returning to Iraq, likely in December or January, McNerney said, after an estimated half of the corps' units deploy there. But that leaves half of the corps in Germany, at least for now. Army transformation plans call for one of the corps' units — the 1st ID — to relocate to the United States beginning next year, with the 1st Armored Division following about two years later, after finishing an upcoming Iraq deployment. Batiste is being replaced in the 1st ID by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker. That appointment was announced on April 20. At that time Batiste's new assignment was not disclosed. Batiste was spending time with his family and not available for comment Saturday, said Maj. Bill Coppernoll, a 1st ID spokesman. I see three possibilities, the first being that the first one was not up for the job, the second that one of the two is promotable to V Corps Commander, the third being that the Command is to be permanently split, with the new Command becoming the permanent Iraq Corps Command. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 This is putting a valuable Division Commander in the right spot to move up to Corp after the currne CDR leaves. Peactime they dont do this sort of thing, but this is war, and you want a Corps Cdr that knows the situation and has commanded in-theater. Thats what this looks like. The current Corps DC will stay put and get some seasoning, before getting his second star and moving on to command a division somewhere. Smart move to keep a capable and experienced commander at the helm and in theater. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-05-01 8:15:21 PM |