JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Aug. 20, 2019) -- Members of the 419th Contracting Support Brigade welcomed their new command sergeant major during a change-of-responsibility ceremony July 26 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Responsibility of the brigade changed hands from Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Perryman to Command Sgt. Maj. T.J. Higgs during a ceremony officiated by Col. Brad Hodge, 419th CSB commander, before a gathering of family members, installation leaders and members of the community.
The Red Bank, New Jersey, native is no stranger to the 419th CSB, having transferred from Fort Drum, New York, where he served as the senior enlisted adviser for the 925th Contracting Battalion, which is subordinate to the brigade.
"It is an honor and privilege to serve, and to also continue to serve within the brigade," Higgs said.
Higgs commended the 419th CSB's leadership in developing a team dedicated to mission success and praised the focus of uniformed and civilian members of the brigade dedicated to the support of Soldier and their families.
"Leadership is a contact sport; it requires daily interaction," Higgs said. "You are a dynamic organization that is spread across the Eastern seaboard and always visible in some fashion in the Central Command area of responsibility."
Higgs has served in a variety of leadership positions at levels of increasing responsibility in support of the warfighter. His operational assignments include numerous deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve as well as to Haiti for relief efforts during Operation Unified Response.
Hodge praised his level of experience while welcoming him to the command during the ceremony.
"Command Sgt. Maj. Higgs is an acquisition professional who has had a unique acquisition corps career -- occupying the roles of a procurement NCO, contingency contracting team NCO in charge and senior enlisted adviser for two contracting battalions," the commander said. "(He) has led in positions of supporting conventional and special forces units, exercises and operations. He knows contracting support having provided it from Fort Jackson (South Carolina) to Korea and from Haiti to Iraq."
Higgs enlisted in the Army in October 1994 as an Infantryman before joining the Army Acquisition Corps in 2008. Higgs has accomplished all essential levels of the Noncommissioned Officer Education System to include U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Class 66 and is Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level III Certified in Contracting.
The assumption-of-responsibility ceremony included the passing of the brigade colors, which symbolize the heritage and history of the organization as well as unity and loyalty of its Soldiers. As the new brigade command sergeant major, Higgs is the keeper of the colors.
The brigade also bid farewell to Perryman who is retiring from the Army after a combined 30 years of service, including eight years with the Reserve.
"Command Sgt. Maj. Perryman is a professional of conviction," Hodge said. "She leaves behind a legacy of developing the personnel in her charge to be ready, caring, passionate, mission focused, technically proficient Soldiers and civilians."
About the MICC:
Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
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