Fort Bragg to get new leader as Senate confirms 18th Airborne Corps commander to lead CENTCOM

FORT BRAGG — Fort Bragg will see changes in leadership for the 18th Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division.

On Feb. 17, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lt. Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, to lead the U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. Central Command is based in MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and is currently led by Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie.

The same day as Kurilla's confirmation, the Senate named Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, to be Kurilla’s replacement for the 18th Airborne Corps.

The dates of the command changes have not yet been announced.

The Department of Defense has not yet publicly announced who the next commander will be for the 82nd Airborne Division.

Why 18th Airborne and 82nd are important to Fort Bragg and Army

Kurilla has been commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg since October 2019.

He also served as the 82nd's commander from August 2016 to August 2018 and served as chief of staff for the U.S. Central Command from August 2018 to September 2019.

As commander of the corps, Kurilla has led more than 90,000 troops in four divisions, including the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, and numerous brigades.

According to its website, the corps is the Army’s strategic response force that “rapidly deploys ready Army forces anywhere in the world by air, land or sea, entering forcibly if necessary, to shape, deter, fight and win.”

Its headquarters provides mission command as an Army joint or combined task force headquarters.

Since July 2020, Donahue has led more than 18,000 paratroopers assigned to the 82nd.

The division is one of Fort Bragg’s largest units that is the command for three brigade combat teams, a sustainment brigade and a combat aviation brigade.

The 82nd Airborne Division specializes in joint forcible entry operations with a mission to deploy worldwide within 18 hours of notification, according to its website.

Before coming to the 82nd, Donahue served as commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. He also has served as director of operations for Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg and held numerous positions in U.S. Army Special Operations Command units.

As commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Kurilla has worked with health officials in making decisions tied to Fort Bragg’s health protection level during the COVID-19 pandemic. He determined what closed and reopened on post based on the number of COVID-19 cases at Fort Bragg and in the surrounding communities.

He provided input following attacks on an American embassy as the 82nd Airborne Division’s Immediate Response Force rapidly deployed to the Middle East in 2020 in their first no-notice combat deployment since 1989.

Kurilla and Donahue were involved when the 82nd's Immediate Response Force took part in the Afghanistan evacuation mission. Donahue was the last American service member to leave Afghanistan, marking the end of the nearly 20-year war there.

Both commanders are currently deployed to Europe after the Department of Defense has asked for 4,700 paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne deployed to Poland and about 200 soldiers with corps deployed to Germany in support of NATO during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What Kurilla said at his confirmation hearing

During his Feb. 8 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kurilla was asked about where Afghanistan, which is in CENTCOM's area of responsibility, stands.

Kurilla said there are still threats from Al-Queda and ISIS-K — the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate —which the Taliban has not renounced.

Each terrorist organization is releasing former war prisoners, he said.

Kurilla said he thinks the U.S. has an obligation to help at-risk Afghans, and that he is willing to work with the Department of State to determine what options are available to help them.

“We have the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” Kurilla said.

He said he thinks working with the World Food Program might help alleviate some of the burdens.

Kurilla said that despite the U.S. not always seeing "eye to eye with Pakistan,” there is a shared interest for regional stability and countering violent extremist organizations, which could provide the opportunity to work with Pakistan as the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan could mean migrants and refugees push into Pakistan.

“The biggest challenge for Afghanistan is that is a landlocked country,” he said.

During the hearing, Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, said CENTCOM’s geographic area of responsibility stretches across the Middle East from northeast Africa to Central and South Asia.

More: President Joe Biden nominates Fort Bragg commander for new job

“Perhaps the most pressing is Iran’s malign influence in the region,” Reed said. “The United States’ latest round of indirect negotiations to return to the joint comprehensive plan of action has seen progress, but Iran’s ongoing nuclear development threatens to derail any agreement.”

Reed said Iranian-linked groups liked the Houthis also waged rocket attacks in the region, including attacks against bases with a U.S. military presence in Iraq and Syria.

Kurilla agreed that Iran is a “destabilizing factor" with Iranian proxies and military groups firing rockets at the American embassy or firing at troops in Syria, or the Iranian-backed Houthis firing missiles into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

“It is a big concern that Iranian-aligned groups that are operating inside of Iraq and inside of Syria are going after our service members,” he said. “I will always protect our people, and I would take action against them if they took action against us.”

Kurilla said Iran also has cyber capabilities and that he thinks hardening the cyber defense of partners and allies in the region is needed.

He said he believes any enforceable U.S policy and agreement with Iran should ensure they do not get a nuclear weapon.

Asked about China and its interests in the Middle East, Kurilla said 18 of 21 countries have signed strategic agreements with China, and that China has increased its spending in the Middle East.

“We have to expose their predatory practices where they treat every country as a client or a customer, whereas we deal in relationships, and we are partners and allies,” Kurilla said.

He said China having a base south of Yemen across the Gulf of Arden , creates a “strategic chokepoint” where China can maintain vessels while overseas.

Kurilla said his concern is that China could continue its expansion into the CENTCOM area of authority.

More: Is leading the 82nd Airborne the 'coolest job ever'? The new commanding general thinks it is.

Kurilla, who immediately deployed to Germany after the confirmation hearing to join the 18th Airborne Corps joint task force headquarters to support NATO’s mission, was also asked about Russia.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D- New Hampshire, asked Kurilla what he considered to be “the biggest challenge” of the deployment.

Kurilla said the challenge was moving thousands of forces across the transatlantic.

Responding to Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis' question about whether deploying Fort Bragg units to Poland and Germany was “a wise decision from a decision standpoint,” Kurilla reiterated that the mission is to reassure NATO allies and deter any potential Russian aggression against NATO allies.

Kurilla said if Russia invaded Ukraine, he thinks they would not hesitate to be able to act “as a spoiler in Syria” too.

While describing Russia as a competitor, he said he does not think Russia wants to go to war with the U.S.

“And I know we don’t want to go to war with Russia,” Kurilla said.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Changes in leadership announced, new commanders coming to Fort Bragg