When Command Sgt. Maj. Cesar Duran passed the garrison colors to Col. Timothy Hickman, he also gave up his responsibility for the unit. When Hickman, Fort Jackson garrison commander, handed those colors to Command Sgt. Maj. Brie Kotula, he also bestowed on her a new title – garrison command sergeant major.
The passing of the garrison colors symbolizes the transfer of responsibility from the outgoing senior enlisted leader to another.
Hickman said he was impressed with her after meeting her for the first time.
“I’m happy to have (her) on the team,” Hickman said during the ceremony. “I know she’s excited about this duty and we’re happy to have her on the team … Her bio is impressive. I encourage you to read it. We all found out quickly though that she has a very outgoing and positive personality, and a whole lot of energy.”
He added she will be a “very visible and vital member of a team that is largely behind the scenes.”
Hickman welcomed her to the team and added she would be one of the few “people in the garrison that are on the radar and on the stage all the time. I am happy you are here.”
Kotula, said it’s an “honor to be here at Fort Jackson” where she graduated Basic Combat Training and attended Advanced Individual Training in 2002. “When thinking about today, there’s a term I use, and I will frequently come back to – it’s an honor to serve. It’s truly an honor of a lifetime to be appointed as command sergeant major here at the garrison Fort Jackson.”
Kotula, who started her career as a light-wheeled vehicle mechanic, would reclassify into Explosive Ordnance Disposal in 2006. She held multiple leadership positions including platoon sergeant, first sergeant and sergeant major. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and her awards include Bronze Star Medal (two oak leaf clusters), Meritorious Service Medal (five oak leaf clusters), Army Commendation Medal (five oak leaf clusters), Army Achievement Medal (five oak leaf clusters).
Her military education includes the Sergeants Majors Academy, Senior Leaders Course, the Advanced Leaders Course, the Basic Leaders Course, Airborne School, the Combat Lifesavers Course, the Army Recruiting Course, Advanced Improvised Explosive Course, Combatives Level One, and Human Resource Management Course. She has a bachelors degree in criminal justice and holds a masters in sports and health science with a concentration on exercise and rehabilitation.
She had big shoes to fill, she added.
“I can make you proud to keep this garrison running smoothy as you leave here,” she said to Duran.
“Command Sgt. Maj. Duran was involved in many things, too many to really highlight here,” Hickman said during the ceremony, “but I will highlight a few of them”
First, Duran “challenged the garrison to be the best at, and being passionate about, taking care of people and ensuring strategic readiness,” Hickman elaborated. Secondly, the outgoing sergeant major created biweekly maintenance meetings to focus “specifically on barracks and dining facilities.”
Hickman lauded Duran’s efforts crediting him with “dramatically reducing the number of outstanding work orders.”
Duran was also hands on with the Better Opportunity for Single Soldiers program and “passionately” invested in the Fort Jackson Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation program.
“We recently renamed the NCO Club to the 1917 Club,” Hickman joked. “I gotta say Cesar’s Place was a serious contender.”
Duran said he will have fond memories of playing at Victory Bingo and relaxing in the Down Range Bar, but will also “miss the synergy that has been created at Fort Jackson … I will miss the (Department of the Army) Civilians, contractors and Soldiers that made the little things happen.”
Duran is headed to Fort Knox, Kentucky to be the G3 sergeant major for U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
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