FORT EISENHOWER, Ga. – The U.S. Army Signal Corps welcomed its 43rd Chief of Signal and Signal School commandant during an assumption of responsibility ceremony held June 21.
U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Eisenhower Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Paul T. Stanton, presided over the ceremony.
Col. Julia M. Donley replaced Brig. Gen. Paul D. Howard, 42nd Chief of Signal. Howard was summoned to U.S. Army Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, weeks prior to Donley’s arrival.
Wasting no time, Donley hit the ground running, literally, leading thousands of troops with an early-morning run celebrating the Signal Corps’ 164th birthday on the same day as her ceremony. Having arrived the week prior, she also participated in a host of other significant events, including a post-wide U.S. Army Birthday Run, Distinguished Members of the Regiment induction, and Signal Corps Anniversary Ball.
Donley acknowledged it had been a “whirlwind couple of weeks” leading to this day.
At the core of all the pomp and circumstance stood a leader who now has the “reins to drive and steer the future … a responsibility for which [Donley] is overly qualified,” Stanton said.
“We will keep pace with the rate of change of technology and the rate of change of our adversaries…. but at the same time, we have to defend our communications equipment and we have to think about the battlefield geometry and placement of our systems in the context of moving the right data to the right place at the right time in ways that we weren’t challenged with previously,” he continued.
There was no doubt in Stanton’s mind that the Signal Corps has the right person for the mission.
“The eyes of the Army and the nation are upon the Soldiers that will matriculate through our courses, through our formations … led by the Chief of Signal and the Commandant of the Signal School,” he said. “We need leaders like Julia Donley to take the reins and propel into the future.”
Upon delivering her remarks, Donley’s eyes were on the audience that gathered to show their support during her time of transition – several who were present during her relinquishment ceremony two weeks prior and made the trek from the Maryland/D.C. area. After expressing her gratitude for them, and many others, Donley got into business.
“The Army expects us, the regiment, as it has for the last 164 years to once again reinvent ourselves and to be the Army’s innovators,” Donley said. “We need to continue to move the regiment forward – caring for the regiment of today, remembering the regiment of the past … and what the focus really needs to be is on the regiment of tomorrow.”
It’s an undertaking in which success is largely dependent on what’s next for the network – a question that’s being actively explored now.
“It’s going to require us to change how we train, what we buy, determine what data is needed where, what’s the most efficient way to reach it, and most importantly we need to start moving away from the mindset where we all control our own little bits of the network and embrace the fact that all of us are the distant end,” Donley said. “All of these are tough questions, but whatever happens, whatever the Army needs, I know that the people of the Signal Corps are up to the task – ready to answer the call, as we have done for 164 years, because we are one unified regiment supporting each other every single day in order to provide the Army with its one unified network.”
Donley commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps through Georgetown University’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program in 2000. She most recently served as the brigade commander of 21st Signal Brigade, Fort Detrick, Maryland, but has held a wide variety of command and staff positions.
Visit the U.S. Army Signal Regiment Facebook page for complete footage of the ceremony.
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