FORT SILL, Okla., July 19, 2018 -- Command of the Air Defense Artillery (ADA) schoolhouse brigade passed from Col. David Baxter to Col. Maurice Barnett at a ceremony here July 13.
The outgoing commander of the 30th ADA Brigade will not be leaving Fort Sill. Rather, he will move to a new office about a mile away to serve the ADA School as its assistant commandant.
In an interview after the ceremony, the 1991 West Point grad and varsity football player was adamant that it's not about him, it's about the Soldiers.
He said there are some similarities between the job he's leaving and the one he's going to, except the level of execution will move from the operational to the strategic.
"So instead of looking down, I'll be more focused on looking up. As opposed to dealing with day-to-days, I'll be looking out to the future -- five, 10, 15, 20 years," he said.
As the schoolhouse brigade, the 30th ADA provides cadre to instruct the ADA version of the Basic Officer Leader Course for second lieutenants, the Captains' Career Course and the Warrant Officer courses. Nevertheless, Baxter doesn't consider it a brigade of educators but a brigade of Soldiers that educates the future of the branch.
"What we have are Soldiers having an additional skill set. Just like somebody who would be in a specialized organization like the 82nd (Airborne Division) who jumps out of airplanes, our Soldiers instruct. So they teach the future of the branch, and it's been a phenomenal experience.
"I would offer this: (Teaching is) the greatest exercise in leadership that anybody will ever experience in their entire life, because you have to deal with all walks of individuals, from all backgrounds You learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the United States."
The workload is demanding, he admits, "but where isn't it demanding on anybody?" In his speech, he referred to the brigade as "an under-structured, under-resourced organization, but we all deal with it here on the installation."
When there are multiple missions, people have to be allocated appropriately, he noted. So the instructors have fulfilling jobs, but they have to work long hours.
Maj. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general, noted in his speech that the deployment of a single THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Air Defense) battery to the Korean Peninsula garnered more media attention than any other deployment in recent years. Shoffner called the 30th ADA Brigade the heart of the ADA branch and said it has trained more than 4,200 students on Baxter's watch.
All THAAD training is done at Fort Sill, Baxter confirmed. The Army has been responsible for training THAAD for more than three years.
"All the cadre instructors and everybody take what we do seriously. We know that when a Soldier leaves us, they're going to the operating force, so they could be on that deployment. That THAAD battery that went forward had new Soldiers in it that came from our organization. Every organization gets air defense Soldiers. So we have to take it seriously," he said.
Of his troops, Baxter said "they are truly the best the branch has to offer. They are truly the heart of air defense artillery. From us springs the future."
Gerald Stuck, chief of the Fort Sill Artillery Half Section, presented flowers to Baxter's wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Faith, as well as a gift to their son, Bryce.
The incoming commander of 30th ADA Brigade is a native of Gary, Ind., who received his commission into the ADA Corps upon his graduation from Indiana University in December 1994. Barnett recently graduated from the U.S. Marine Corps War College with a master's degree in strategic studies. He also has a master of science degree in kinesiology from Indiana University.
While deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Barnett served as training officer for the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force, Joint Task Force Paladin. He has also held key assignments in Germany. He has previously commanded 1st Battalion, 44th ADA at Fort Hood, Texas. His most recent assignment was with the Officer Personnel Management Directorate as the ADA branch chief, Army Human Resources Command, Fort Knox, Ky.
Shoffner hailed Barnett's exceptional reputation and pointed out his extensive experience in short-range air defense (SHORAD), which is making a comeback in the Army.
"Thank God for this opportunity and for this beautiful Oklahoma day," Barnett said as he thanked Shoffner for his kind words and both Shoffner and Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, ADA School commandant and chief of the branch, for their "continued faith and confidence in our ability to lead this exceptional team of Soldiers and civilians."
Barnett also thanked the Baxters for their friendship and making the transition smooth.
The 395th Army Reserve Band from Mustang, Okla., practiced its marching and ceremonial music on post earlier in the week and filled in for the 77th Army Band during its annual two weeks' leave.
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