The Defense Department announced a series of general officer assignments on Thursday, including new commanders for the 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division and the Joint Readiness Training Center.
Maj. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, the current commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan will head to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to take the reigns of the 82nd Airborne Division, according to the Pentagon announcement.
Donahue previously served as the Army’s Infantry School commandant and a deputy commander at 4th Infantry Division. He had an early career assignment as a platoon leader in 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, and also served elsewhere in the regiment and in other special operations postings.
Maj. Gen. Scott L. Efflandt, who is currently the deputy commanding general of III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, will become the commander of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, near El Paso. Efflandt has spent much of his career in armor and cavalry posts domestically and abroad.
Brig. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II will become the commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, in Kansas. Sims is currently the deputy director for regional operations and force management on the Pentagon Joint Staff in Washington, D.C.
Sims is promotable, the Pentagon said. When he made brigadier general In 2016, Sims was serving as 1st Cavalry Division’s deputy commander for support and the commander of Task Force Forge in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Brig. Gen. David S. Doyle, who serves currently as a deputy commander at the 82d Airborne Division, will take over the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, in Louisiana.
Prior to arriving at the 82nd, Doyle served as a director of operations for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, the mission to defeat the Islamic State, out of Kuwait.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
