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Army post to get new commander

New commander takes over at Fort A.P. Hill

Date published: 6/19/2009

By RUSTY DENNEN

An Army officer with an extensive background in engineering takes over today as commander of Fort A.P. Hill.

In a change-of-command ceremony at 10 a.m. on the parade field, Lt. Col John Haefner replaces Lt. Col. Michael Graese, who became commander of the Caroline County base in July 2006.

Haefner's most recent assignment was as deputy chief for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Support Team to the Army, in Reston.

Haefner served as platoon leader, battalion adjutant and company executive officer in the 27th Engineer Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C.; battalion maintenance officer and logistics offer in the 94th Engineer Battalion in Vilseck, Germany; company commander of the 535th Engineer company in Grafenwoehr, Germany; and battalion operations and executive officer for the 29th Engineer Battalion at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

He served as operations officer and instructor at the Defense Mapping School, National Imagery and Mapping Agency at Fort Belvoir and as Pacific geospatial-intelligence officer at Fort Shafter. His deployments include Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, Joint Endeavor with NATO in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Task Force Hawk in Albania and Joint Guardian in Kosovo in the Balkans.

Haefner is a master parachutist, with Japanese and Australian jump qualifications. He holds the Pathfinder badge.

A native of Buffalo, Haefner has a bachelor of science degree in geology from Northeastern University in Boston and a master's in engineering management from the University of Missouri. He's a graduate of the engineer officer basic and advanced courses at the Command and General Staff College and Joint Forces Staff College.

He is married, with two children.

Graese is being promoted to colonel and will attend the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

Among his accomplishments, Graese was commander of Fort A.P. Hill when the base placed first in the Army Chief of Staff Communities of Excellence competition in 2008. It was a finalist in previous years. The award recognizes exemplary support to soldiers, civilian employees, retirees and their families. It included a cash prize of $2 million.

Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com

Named after Confederate Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, the large base in Caroline County was established as an Army training post in June 1941. It encompasses 75,794 acres, including 42,000 acres of maneuver area and 28,000 acres of ranges. This year, about 80,000 troops are expected to train here. The base is used by active Army, National Guard and Reserve, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel. For years it has been the site of the National Scout Jamboree and will host it for the last time next year.

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Date published: 6/19/2009