A pomp-filled arrival was in store for the new man in charge at Fort Hamilton Army Base, complete with a changing of the guard, a presentation of the American flag, and a fond farewell for the departing chief.
On June 29, Colonel Michael J. Gould was welcomed as commander of the venerable post at the base of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a major embarkation and separation center during two world wars, and home to the North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 1998.
The serviceman, whose assignments have ranged from being a rifle and mortar platoon leader at Fort Carson, Col., and a support operations officer at Fort Bragg, N.C., to deputy commander in Germany, takes over from Col. Stephen V. Smith, who was looking to retire after his two-year stint at the garrison. That’s before his alma mater, Norwich University in Vermont approached him to lead its Reserve Officers Training Corps program.
“I kind of stayed away from working in the garrison because it’s not a deployable unit, but the older you get and the more time you spend in the Army, the more you understand how important a job like this really is,” Col. Gould told the garrison newsletter, “The Hamilton Connection.”
— Shavana Abruzzo
