Fort Leavenworth to have first Black commanding general: U.S. Army
Fort Leavenworth and the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center will be under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Milford Beagle Jr., marking the first time a Black commanding general has overseen the post, according to a news release Monday.
Army leaders were planning a ceremony to be held Tuesday morning at Fort Leavenworth, presided over by Gen. Gary Brito, of the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command, as current Fort Leavenworth commander Lt. Gen. Theodore D. Martin is relinquishing his command.
The change in leadership comes 186 years after the Black Cavalry units, now known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were first formed at Fort Leavenworth, according to the news release.
Beagle is taking his post at Fort Leavenworth after a military career that included combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He previously served as a commanding general overseeing the Army Training Center at Fort Jackson, as a deputy commander for the 10th Mountain Division and as commander over the 193rd Infantry Brigade, the Army said in its statement.
Beagle is the great-grandson of Walter Beagles, a World War I veteran. Beagle graduated from the South Carolina State University, where he studied criminal justice, and later earned master’s degrees from Kansas State University and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, according to the news release.
