CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea (Aug. 11, 2006) - The U.S. Army took a step closer to transformation Aug. 10 when Lt. Col. William Huber cased the colors of U. S. Army Garrison at Camp Red Cloud and turned command over to Col. Forrest Newton, commander of Area I Support Activity.

"In July 2004, when I took this command, I recall Brig. Gen. John Macdonald telling me that I had two significant missions to accomplish during my time," Huber said. "The first was that I needed to close five of seven camps and the second was I needed to deactivate the garrison. How would you like to come into command with these missions? You are going to get smaller in size and then go away."

Making the garrison smaller is exactly what Huber did. Camps Sears, Page and Falling Water were closed and Camps Essayons and LaGuardia were closed and returned to the Republic of Korea July 15.

"I would like to thank those involved in assisting in making sure that I can report today the mission is accomplished,” Huber said. “Additionally, you have just witnessed the official deactivation of the U.S. Army Garrison Camp Red Cloud. Mission complete."

In 25 months, the garrison has accomplished many things. Huber and the garrison staff collectively organized and moved the Department of Public Works from Camp Falling Water to Camp Stanley, moved the Warrior Readiness Center from Camp Mobile to Camp Stanley and provided them with a first-class facility.

The Central Issue Facility from Camp Mobile will be moved to Camp Stanley within three months to become the Warrior Depot. Huber and the garrison built the new CRC gas station and bus terminal, 2nd Infantry Division Band building and a new CRC front gate.

Opening a new Special Troops Battalion headquarters at CRC is planned within the next six months.

"We merged the entire garrison staff, functions, and operations into Area I with no disruption to services, very little stress on employees, and most importantly we provided everyone with significantly improved working conditions," Huber said.

Huber and the garrison played a significant role in assisting the city of Uijeongbu meet its goal in opening the new Highway 43 Bypass.

"We renovated Mitchell's Club so it better serves the Soldiers' and Airmen's needs and we will soon open a new pub in Mitchell's," Huber said. "These are just a few of the accomplishments this great organization has achieved, and I am extremely proud to have had this opportunity to lead this organization through its transformation and restructuring."

The casing of the colors ended a long legacy of the U.S. Army Garrison, CRC. It was formed as a subinstallation command of the 501st Corps Support Group in 1991 to replace the Special Troops Combined Field Army upon the inactivation of the Combined Field Army. On June 12, 1995, the commander of the 19th Theater Area Army Command divested the 501st CSG of its base operations and quality of life responsibilities and directed the formation of Headquarters, Area I West to assume these missions. At that time USAGCRC was removed from the 501st CSG and placed under Area I West. On June 13, 1996, Camp Page was assigned to USAG-CRC as a sub-installation, and Area I West was designated as Area I Support Activity.

The inactivation of the USAG-CRC is just another step toward the complete transformation of the Area I Support Activity, Huber said.

"I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the former garrison staff members that were with me in the beginning, and thank the Area I staff members for their outstanding support to Soldiers in making Area I the best place to live and train," Huber said.