army colonel assignments

• Cover Letters
• Jobs I've Applied To
• Saved Searches
• Subscriptions

Marine Corps

Coast guard.

• Space Force
• Military Podcasts
• Benefits Home
• Military Pay and Money
• Veteran Health Care
• VA eBenefits
• Veteran Job Search
• Military Skills Translator
• Upload Your Resume
• Veteran Employment Project
• Vet Friendly Employers
• Career Advice
• Military Life Home
• Military Trivia Game
• Veterans Day
• Spouse & Family
• Military History
• Discounts Home
• Featured Discounts
• Veterans Day Restaurant Discounts
• Electronics
• Join the Military Home
• Contact a Recruiter
• Military Fitness

Silver Star Awarded to Army Ranger Who Came to Aid of Fellow Troops During Battle of Mogadishu

More than three decades after his actions during the infamous Battle of Mogadishu, retired Army Maj. Larry Moores has been awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for acts of valor.

Moores was presented with the medal in a ceremony March 25 for his role in the fight as a young Army Ranger with 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, which included coming to the aid of other troops who were pinned down while under fire.

"Mr. Moores, I personally salute you for your tenacity, your toughness in a crucible combat, and your commitment to our Army, and your fellow soldiers," Gen. Gary Brito, commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, said while presenting the award. "Your actions in Somalia were for them, your brothers in arms, and are a living tribute to the Ranger Creed, which I know that you hold dearly."

Read Next: Newly Approved Rapid Blood Test for Traumatic Brain Injury Could Speed Up Treatment for Troops

Immortalized by the 2001 blockbuster movie "Black Hawk Down," the real battle between U.S. troops and Somali militiamen occurred from Oct. 3 to Oct. 4, 1993.

Moores was assigned to Task Force Ranger, which had been deployed that summer to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and included Rangers, special operations troops and aviators.

What started as an overnight firefight between militiamen and U.S. forces quickly went south when two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot down while conducting a raid aimed at capturing two of Farrah Aidid's lieutenants.

According to retired Army Col. Larry Perino, a fellow Ranger platoon leader who served alongside Moores during the battle, Moores played an active role in saving other service members' lives that night.

"Larry is deserving because he chose to go back to that street to try and break us out," Perino said at the ceremony, according to a statement from the Army. "Despite going out there and getting riddled with bullets time and time again and losing Rangers, he had the intestinal fortitude to lead his men to help us."

Moores recalled the battle at the ceremony, saying, "We lost 18 [soldiers] in battle and had more than 70 Rangers wounded. That was a tough experience because we were overwhelmed, with the odds against us. But it was amazing to watch the young Rangers still execute under very difficult circumstances."

For his service, Moores was inducted as a distinguished member of the 75th Ranger Regiment in 2005 and into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 2017.

In 2021, the Army upgraded 60 awards for troops injured and killed in the battle , including 58 Silver Stars and two Distinguished Flying Crosses for heroism displayed during "aerial flight."

Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart and Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, both Delta operators, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for attempting to protect one of the downed Black Hawk pilots, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, as Somalis closed in around them.

Although more than 30 years has passed since the infamous battle, the U.S. has maintained a tumultuous presence in Somalia .

Between 2019 and 2021, the U.S. drew back its physical presence in the African country . The following year, then-U.S. Africa Command commanding officer Gen. Stephen Townsend told lawmakers that the drawdown was a mistake, citing the need for a continued counterterrorism force, which the U.S. maintains to this day.

"In East Africa, al-Qaida's al-Shabab remains the greatest threat to U.S. persons and interests in the region as well as the homeland, while undermining peace, security and political progress in Somalia," Townsend told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a 2022 hearing. "If left unchecked, al-Shabab will soon expand beyond Somalia's borders and become an even greater threat to regional stability and American interests."

Most recently, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced a resolution in April 2023 to the House floor that would have required the U.S. withdraw entirely from its counterterrorism efforts in Somalia. The resolution was shot down in a 102-321 vote.

Just shy of 500 troops -- mostly special operations personnel -- made up the U.S. military's remaining presence in Somalia as of June 2023.

-- Rachel Nostrant is a Marine Corps veteran and freelance journalist, with work published in Reuters, New York Magazine, Military Times and more.

Related: Army Upgrades 60 Awards for 'Black Hawk Down' Battle

You May Also Like

The crest of the newly inaugurated U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Melvin Bell bears a motto—"Signal of Hope "—that encapsulates the...

Space Force Tech. Sgt. David Gudgeon and Sgt. Yuji Moore graduated from the Army's program Wednesday, according to a news...

The default headgear everywhere else in the Army is the so-called patrol cap, which offers relatively little utility and has...

Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza and added a new layer...

Military News

• Investigations and Features
• Military Opinion

Select Service

• National Guard

Most Popular Military News

As of April 1, airmen and Guardians stationed at U.S. bases where temperatures sometimes drop 20 degrees below zero will earn...

Lt. Col. Christopher O'Melia was fired from his role as battalion commander on March 26 "due to a loss of trust and...

The USS Boxer, the heart of the next Marine-carrying task force, has finally deployed from San Diego after months of delays...

The Army is eyeing a dramatic cut to the Army Credentialing Assistance program, or Army CA, next year to curb costs in what...

The Army is investigating a National Guard social media account posting that contained an image of a soldier wearing a patch...

Latest Benefits Info

• VA Implements Mandatory Overtime To Reduce Huge GI Bill Delay
• GI Bill Top Questions Answered
• Montgomery GI Bill User's Guide
• After Hurricane Florence: Status of VA & Other Federal Assistance
• The Mental Burden of Using Military Benefits

More Military Headlines

Human Rights Watch says an Israeli strike on an apartment building in Gaza last October killed at least 106 civilians...

• 2 Space Force Guardians Become Service's First Graduates of Army's Drill Instructor Academy
• Boonie Caps Permitted for Soldiers at Fort Bliss But Remain Unauthorized for Rest of Army Bases
• Defense Lawyers for Former Army Soldier Facing Federal Riot Charge Allege ‘Questionable Tactics’ by FBI, Police
• Air Force Proposes Bypassing Governors in 7 States to Move Guard Units into Space Force
• Here Are the First 14 Bases to Experience New Privatized Household Goods Moves
• First Vessel Uses Newly Opened Channel After Baltimore Bridge Collapse to Deliver Fuel to Dover Air Force Base
• Navy Vet Accused of Crashing FBI Gate Faces 10 Years in Prison
• After Months of Delay, USS Boxer Finally Leaves San Diego and Sets Sail on Deployment

Military Benefits Updates

• Other Than Honorable Discharge: Everything You Need to Know
• Honorable Discharge: Everything You Need to Know
• Florida State Guard Recruit Threatened to ‘Blow Up’ Military Base, Witnesses Told Cops
• Marine Infantry Battalion Commander Fired at Camp Pendleton for 'Loss of Trust and Confidence'
• Coast Guard Cutter Melvin Bell Named After Hawaiian Who Rang Alarm at Pearl Harbor
• Army, Navy Help to Open Small Channel in Baltimore as Bridge Salvage Effort Promises to Grow

Entertainment

• 6 Video Games (Sorry, ‘Simulators’) the US Military Used for Training
• Louis Gossett Jr., Award-Winning Actor Who Portrayed Hard-Nosed Marine in 'An Officer and a Gentleman,' Has Died at 87
• Michael Douglas' Benjamin Franklin Brings France Into the American Revolution in a New Apple TV+ Series

Official websites use .gov

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

General Officer Assignments

The Chief of Staff of the Army announces the following officer assignments:

Maj. Gen. Kimberly M. Colloton, deputy commanding general for Military and International Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C., to deputy chief of engineers, Office of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army; and deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.

Maj. Gen. Lance G. Curtis, deputy chief of staff, G-4, U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to commanding general, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Maj. Gen. Christopher L. Eubank, commanding general, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to chief of staff, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, deputy director for Regional Operations and Force Management, J-3, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C., to commanding general, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Novosel, Fort Novosel, Alabama.

Maj. Gen. Gavin A. Lawrence, commanding general, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to deputy chief of staff for Logistics and Operations, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Leahy, commander, Special Operations Command Central, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, to commander, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, Operation Inherent Resolve, Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry II, commanding general, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Novosel, Fort Novosel, Alabama, to chief of staff, U.S. Army Futures Command, Austin, Texas.

Brig. Gen. Stephanie R. Ahern, director of Concepts, Futures and Concepts Center, U.S. Army Futures Command, Adelphi, Maryland, to commandant, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Brig. Gen. Sarah K. Albrycht, commandant, U.S. Army Military Police School, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to provost marshal general, U.S. Army, and commanding general, Army Corrections Command, Washington, D.C.

Brig. Gen. Guillaume N. Beaurpere, commanding general, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to chief of staff, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Brig. Gen. Chad C. Chalfont, deputy commanding general (Maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Cavazos, Texas, to commandant, U.S. Army Armor School, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Moore, Georgia.

Brig. Gen. Kendall J. Clarke, deputy commanding general (Operations), 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York, to director of Concepts, Futures and Concepts Center, U.S. Army Futures Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

Brig. Gen. Jasper Jeffers III, deputy director for Special Operations and Counter-Terrorism, J-3, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C., to commander, Special Operations Command Central, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Brig. Gen. Shane P. Morgan, commandant, U.S. Army Field Artillery School, U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to deputy director for Regional Operations and Force Management, J-3, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Brig. Gen. Jason B. Nicholson, commanding general, U.S. Army Security Assistance Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to director, Strategy, Plans and Policy, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Brig. Gen. Michael J. Simmering, commandant, U.S. Army Armor School, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Moore, Georgia, to commanding general, First Army Division East, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Brig. Gen. Brian D. Vile, commandant, U.S. Army Cyber Warfare School and Chief of Cyber, Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, to deputy director, Future Operations, J-3, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort Meade, Maryland.

Brig. Gen. Scott D. Wilkinson, commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command; and deputy commanding general-Futures, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to chief, Legislative Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Army, Washington, D.C.

Col. (Promotable) Jeremy A. Bartel, chief of staff, U.S. Army Central, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, to commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Central, Operation Enduring Sentinel, Qatar.

Col. (Promotable) James T. Blejski Jr., assistant chief of staff, G-3, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to director of intelligence, J-2, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Col. (Promotable) Robert G. Born, deputy commander (Support), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Cavazos, Texas, to deputy commander (Maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Cavazos, Texas.

Col. (Promotable) Kirk E. Brinker, deputy commander (Support), 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to deputy commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Liberty, North Carolina.

Col. (Promotable) Kevin S. Chaney, project manager, Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, Program Executive Office Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to deputy, Program Executive Office, Command, Control and Communication (Tactical), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Col. (Promotable) Kenneth C. Cole, deputy commander (Support), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to deputy commander, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Col. (Promotable) Ronald L. Franklin Jr., NATO Branch Chief, J-5, U.S. European Command, Germany, to senior defense official and defense attaché, U.S. Defense Attaché Office, Russia.

Col. (Promotable) Rogelio J. Garcia, deputy commander (Support), 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to commandant of cadets, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

Col. (Promotable) Peter C. Glass, deputy director/chief of staff, Futures and Concepts Center, U.S. Army Futures Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, to deputy commander (Support), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Cavazos, Texas.

Col. (Promotable) Joseph C. Goetz II, commandant, U.S. Army Engineer School, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to commander, Pacific Ocean Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

Col. (Promotable) Phillip J. Kiniery III, deputy commander (Operations), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to commandant, U.S. Army Infantry School, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence; and director, Future Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team, Army Futures Command, Fort Moore, Georgia.

Col. (Promotable) Paul T. Krattiger, deputy commander (Support), 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas, to deputy commander (Operations), 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Col. (Promotable) Matthew J. Lennox, deputy commander, Cyber National Mission Force, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort Meade, Maryland, to deputy commander, Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber, U.S. Army Cyber Command, Fort Eisenhower, Georgia.

Col. (Promotable) Robert J. Mikesh Jr., project manager, Integrated Personnel and Pay System–Army, Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems, Arlington, Virginia, to deputy program executive officer, Enterprise Information Systems, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Col. (Promotable) Jin H. Pak, commandant, U.S. Army Quartermaster School, U.S. Army Sustainment Center of Excellence, Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, to commander, 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Eighth Army, Republic of Korea.

Col. (Promotable) Allen J. Pepper, senior defense official and defense attaché, U.S. Defense Attaché Office, Iraq, to commander, U.S. Army Security Assistance Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

Col. (Promotable) Brendan C. Raymond, director of integration, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., to deputy commander (Support), 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Col. (Promotable) Adam D. Smith, deputy commander for operations, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky, to The Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Human Resources Command; commander, U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency; and executive director, Military Postal Service Agency, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Col. (Promotable) Kevin J. Williams, chief of staff, Joint Task Force–Red Hill, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Honolulu, Hawaii, to deputy commander (Operations), 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Subscribe to Defense.gov Products

Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox.

Defense.gov

Helpful links.

• Live Events
• Today in DOD
• For the Media
• DOD Resources
• DOD Social Media Policy
• Help Center
• DOD / Military Websites
• Agency Financial Report
• Value of Service
• Taking Care of Our People
• FY 2025 Defense Budget
• National Defense Strategy

The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security.