Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jim Heuston | Colonel Catherine L. Cherry passes the NGPEC flag back to Command Sergeant Major Cloyd...... read more read more
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The National Guard Professional Education Center conducted a Change of Command ceremony in Militia Hall’s Jones Auditorium, June 16, 2022, welcoming Colonel Catherine L. Cherry as the incoming commander and bidding farewell to Colonel Leland D. Blanchard II as the outgoing commander.
Lt. Gen. Jon A. Jensen led the ceremony’s acknowledgements by describing what he experienced when he first arrived a PEC for training while serving in the Iowa Army National Guard, and how PEC provided him a foundation of knowledge and skills that prepared him as a National Guard Soldier.
“The motto ‘Readiness Starts Here,’” Jensen said, “I’m a firm believer in that because I saw that in myself. I saw what I was capable of doing before attending PEC, and what I was capable of afterwards.”
Col. Catherine L. Cherry is the 18th Commander of the Lavern E. Weber Professional Education Center, located at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, Arkansas, founded in 1974, and the first woman to take command of the campus in its 48 year history.
“Great organizations are led by competent, caring and committed leaders of character that encourage an environment of trust and discipline and mutual respect,” Cherry said. “I felt that from the beginning here at PEC, and we will continue that.”
Cherry spoke briefly on the National Guard 2030 and 2040, and the modernization of PEC to meet those changes. PEC recently hosted the Cyber Shield exercise and stood up six new battalions to replace the training centers on campus.
“When you stop learning you become irrelevant,” Cherry said after describing her love of life long learning and how PEC inspired her when she first attended classes on campus. “Here at PEC we are the enablers to readiness. We will continue to be the enablers of readiness.”
Blanchard has been selected to serve at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia as the G-3,Operations, Training, and Resourcing, of the Army National Guard.
“What I would tell you is every one of those leaders, every one of those people who have been influential in my career,” said Col. Leland Blanchard. “They exhibited a couple of things in common. One is passion, and two is inspirational leadership which I believe comes from the passion.
“It’s very clear when you talk to them even now; they are still passionate, not just about being Soldiers, but about the Soldiers. They’re passionate, they invest their time. They understood the most important part of being a leader was investing their time and energy into Soldiers and building the next generation. Young folks coming in want to know why; they want to know what the connection is, and they get that from their leaders.”
Before the change of command ceremony, the National Guard Professional Education Center stood up six battalions, Cyber and Information Advantage Battalion, Personnel and Organizational Readiness Battalion, Resource Management Training Battalion, Sustainment, Installations and Environmental Battalion, Strategy and Leader Development Institute, and the Strength Maintenance Training Battalion to replace the six previous training centers on campus.
Jensen explained that by making the training centers battalions it will fully empower the leadership and provide the structure to better serve the Soldiers who work and train there.
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2022 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 423288 |
| Location: | NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR, US |
| Hometown: | NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR, US |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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