[Dan]

RELEASE NUMBER: 051129-02
DATE POSTED: NOVEMBER 29, 2005

MEDIA ADVISORY: USASOC schedules change of command ceremony
U.S. Army Special Operations Command

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Nov. 29, 2005) — North Carolina’s only major Army Command announced a change of command ceremony for Tuesday, Dec. 6, at Meadows Memorial Parade Field here.

At the ceremony, Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, Jr., hands over the reins of command for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command to Lt. Gen. Robert W. Wagner, the current acting commanding general of the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

USASOC is the Army component of the U.S. Special Operations Command and coordinates the actions of all Army Special Forces, Rangers, Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and Special Operations Aviation. Through its six major subordinate commands and units, it trains and maintains these special operations forces for deployment to combatant command worldwide.

General Wagner, a native of Independence, Ohio, has also served there as the deputy commander of Joint Forces Command. He is a 1970 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Fellow West Pointer, General Kensinger is a native of Pennsylvania and has served as commander of USASOC since Aug. 29, 2002. His future plans have not been announced.

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