25th Division gets new leader
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The Pentagon has named a replacement for Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, the 25th Infantry Division (Light) commander who led Hawai'i soldiers during simultaneous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brig. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, nominated in February for the rank of major general, will take over for Olson, who has commanded the Tropic Lightning division since July 2002.
Olson
Mixon is director of operations for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami. No date for a change of command was released.
In early 2004, 5,200 Schofield Barracks soldiers, most of them with the 2nd Brigade, deployed to northern Iraq for a year. Several months later, 5,800 Hawai'i soldiers, including the 3rd Brigade, left for Afghanistan.
Olson, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Afghanistan in charge of Combined Joint Task Force 76, oversaw operations at a time of the country's elections Oct. 9.
The deployment of the 25th Division was its first combat deployment since the Vietnam War.
David A. Bramlett, a retired Army four-star general who headed U.S. Forces Command and now lives on the North Shore, said it's hard to list all the superlatives when it comes to Olson's accomplishments.
"To take a division and prepare it to go in two different directions ... go to (Afghanistan) and assume command of a multinational force, put all that together, fight a very sophisticated campaign with the ground forces there ... , it's just an amazing performance by a great leader," Bramlett said.
Bramlett said that in many respects Olson's wife, Vicki, accomplished as much by marshaling families and helping them when soldiers were killed.
The division's public affairs office had no information on Maj. Gen. Olson's future. Mixon previously was chief of staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, with duty as chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force 180 in Afghanistan.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
