Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Cucolo III will be the next commanding general of Fort Stewart and the Third Infantry Division, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
Cucolo will succeed Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, whose two-year tour of duty ends this summer.
Cucolo will be coming to Fort Stewart from the Pentagon where he is chief of public affairs for the Army.
Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas, a retired Army officer and Fort Stewart civil servant recalls Cucolo and said locals "don't really have to fully educate" him about the area.
"I think with him you get a great officer, a great commander and he'll be a credit to the city."
The new commander has served at Fort Stewart before. He was a staff officer and then a company commander here from 1985 to 1988. Cucolo has also commanded a 3rd ID brigade. From 1999 to 2001 he was commander of the 3rd ID's 3rd Brigade, which is stationed at Fort Benning.
A mid-summer change-of command ceremony is expected. No new assignment has been announced for Lynch.
Cucolo is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point and holds a master's degree in organizational management from the University of San Francisco.
His post as Army chief of public affairs will be filled by an officer well known to many in the Liberty County area, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner. From 2000 to 2002 Bergner was commander of the division's artillery at Fort Stewart.
Bergner will be going to the Pentagon PR job from duty as spokesman for the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Before that he was a special assistant to the president and served with the National Security Council.
The office of the Army chief of staff announced the assignments of Cucolo and Bergner along with 10 other general officer assignments on April 1, but Friday evening no news release had been issued.
Cucolo will succeed Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, whose two-year tour of duty ends this summer.
Cucolo will be coming to Fort Stewart from the Pentagon where he is chief of public affairs for the Army.
Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas, a retired Army officer and Fort Stewart civil servant recalls Cucolo and said locals "don't really have to fully educate" him about the area.
"I think with him you get a great officer, a great commander and he'll be a credit to the city."
The new commander has served at Fort Stewart before. He was a staff officer and then a company commander here from 1985 to 1988. Cucolo has also commanded a 3rd ID brigade. From 1999 to 2001 he was commander of the 3rd ID's 3rd Brigade, which is stationed at Fort Benning.
A mid-summer change-of command ceremony is expected. No new assignment has been announced for Lynch.
Cucolo is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point and holds a master's degree in organizational management from the University of San Francisco.
His post as Army chief of public affairs will be filled by an officer well known to many in the Liberty County area, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner. From 2000 to 2002 Bergner was commander of the division's artillery at Fort Stewart.
Bergner will be going to the Pentagon PR job from duty as spokesman for the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Before that he was a special assistant to the president and served with the National Security Council.
The office of the Army chief of staff announced the assignments of Cucolo and Bergner along with 10 other general officer assignments on April 1, but Friday evening no news release had been issued.