FORT DRUM — As soldiers from the post’s 10th Sustainment Brigade continue their return from deployment, the brigade welcomed its new commander.

The brigade will now be led by Lt. Col. Willie I. Rios III, who comes to the post after previously serving as chief of staff for the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Fort Hood, Texas, which had been deployed to Afghanistan from November 2011 to September. This will be the first time he has been stationed on post.

Col. Rios replaces Col. Kurt J. Ryan, who will head to the Pentagon to become military attache for Alan F. Estevez, assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness. Col. Ryan arrived on post in 2009.

A change of command ceremony was held for the brigade on Wednesday.

During their deployment, soldiers from the brigade were responsible for supporting 30 brigades and six tactical missions in Afghanistan, a task made more difficult by reduced troop levels in the area, limited infrastructure and the closure of ground routes through Pakistan.

The changed route required supplies be moved through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Split over three locations between Afghanistan and Kuwait, brigade troops were credited with delivering more than seven million tons of supplies and 294 million gallons of fuel in the course of their deployment.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer