FORT IRWIN, Calif. — The National Training Center’s Operations Group held a Relinquishment of Command Ceremony for Col. Michal Simmering to handover command to Col. Shawn Patrick on June 17.

“The National Training Center’s Operations Group holds a very special place in our Army,” said Brig. Gen Curtis Taylor, Commander of the National Training Center. “They are the ultimate guardians of those hard fought, war fighting skills that make our mounted formations into the most lethal battalions and brigades on the face of the Earth.”

“Because of the special place this formation holds as the foundation holds as the foundation of the Army’s readiness, the leader we select to command this group is carefully chosen from among our very best mounted warriors. It is clear that the Army got this one right,” said Taylor.

During the onset and height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Simmering was credited for restarting Army training while mitigating the risk of COVID-19 transmission due to a global pandemic. 

“There is a job that needs to get done, a mission and in 28 years I have never been a part of a more focused organization than this team,” said Simmering. “Within Operations Group there is a collective desire to help train others, to simply make them better has by far been the most rewarding experience in my career.”

“As an Army we can go toe-to-toe on anyone in the face of the Earth, but the fact of the matter is we don’t want to put our soldiers in a fair fight, we want there to be absolutely no question that if you decide to go up against the United States Army, there is only one possible outcome, defeat,” he said.